Criminal Law

January Events in the Case

Posted on February 02, 2009
A summary from a quite busy January:Duke's decision to sue one of its insurance carriers boomeranged; in an explosive filing, National Union revealed that the University has already spent more than $5 million on its defense--and that it notified its carrier of possible civil liability not when Crystal Mangum first made her allegations but instead the day after Nifong received DNA evidence almost certainly proving that Mangum's fanciful claims were wholly false...

Responding to Nifong

Posted on January 31, 2009
The falsely accused players? attorneys have filed a response to the 11-line motion to dismiss penned by Nifong attorney Jim Craven. It makes two major points. First, while Craven and Nifong asserted (in lines four and five) of the 11-line masterpiece that the players had not stated a claim against Nifong for which relief could be granted, the players? attorneys note that the allegations against Nifong include the disgraced ex-DA?s ?involvement in the fabrication of false inculpatory evidence, the concealment of evidence of Plaintiffs? actual innocence and the lack of probable cause against them, the intimidation of witnesses, and the making of false and inflammatory public statements regarding Plaintiffs? supposed guilt?all of which resulted in the wrongful seizures of the three innocent Duke students and caused them to suffer substantial economic, emotional and physical harm, irreparable reputational harm, and millions of dollars in legal fees...

Radio Appearance

Posted on January 30, 2009
For those of you in the Chicagoland area, I'll be appearing on WGN's "Extension 720" tonight, from 9-11 Central Time, in a panel discussion about the state of American universities. An internet streaming link also is available.

Another Group of 88'er Promoted

Posted on January 27, 2009
Srinivas Aravamudan has become the third member of the Group of 88 to be promoted to a deanship since signing the Group's statement. Aravadudan joins Lee Baker and Sally Deutsch as the Group's representatives among the ranks of Duke deans. And, of course, 88'er Paula McClain currently serves as chair of the Duke Academic Council, the highest-elected faculty position on campus...

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Review: Race to Injustice

Posted on January 26, 2009
The newest book on the lacrosse case is now out. Edited by University of Florida law professor Michael Seigel, Race to Injustice: Lessons Learned from the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, in many ways captures the conventional wisdom of the case?s effects:in the law, a willingness to address the shortcomings that the case exposed, coupled with a renewed emphasis on the dangers of prosecutorial misconduct and civil liberties violations;in the academy and academic culture, an almost complete unwillingness to reconsider the dominant assumptions about race, class, and gender; or to ask hard questions as to how dozens of professors at a major university could have both rushed to judgment and then refused to reconsider their perspective as facts emerged undermining their initial assumptions...

Steel Under Investigation

Posted on January 24, 2009
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation of Duke Trustees chairman Bob Steel.Over the summer, struggling Wachovia Bank had named Steel as its CEO--preposterously citing his ability to lead institutions in a ?time of turmoil? as a criterion for the selection...

Setback for Durham?

Posted on January 23, 2009
The dragging out of the civil suit briefing process?caused largely by Mike Nifong?s ultimately unsuccessful attempts to use bankruptcy proceedings to get out of the civil suit?has resulted in some bad luck for Durham.On Wednesday, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that could weaken the Durham defendants? efforts to use a claim of qualified immunity to avoid liability...

Duke's $5M Defense?

Posted on January 19, 2009
National Union, the insurance company sued by Duke, has filed its response?and the brief makes for interesting reading.Among the claims:1.) Since December 3, 2007, according to National Union?s filing, Duke?s lacrosse case legal expenses have exceeded $5 million...

Dershowitz on UPI

Posted on January 17, 2009
Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, discussing books on momentous legal cases in this week's WSJ:"Until Proven Innocent," an account of the Duke lacrosse case, should be ranked high among works that disprove the notion that those charged with serious crimes are invariably guilty and that those who are acquitted somehow beat the system...

Is Nifong Paying by the Line?

Posted on January 16, 2009
In one of the stranger filings of the civil suit, Nifong attorney James Craven demands that the suit against his client be dismissed--in an 11-line brief.Under the law, the disgraced ex-attorney had absolute immunity for all actions taken as DA. But how does Craven address in these eleven lines the police notes and actions showing how Nifong also acted in a police supervisory role--for which he doesn't have absolute immunity?Craven simply ignores the material--and then, incredibly, urges the judge to incorporate into his brief the arguments of ...

Keohane's "Root of the Problem"

Posted on January 12, 2009
I have an essay at Minding the Campus, discussing former Duke president Nan Keohane's recent defense of her successor, Richard Brodhead. An excerpt:"The lacrosse thing was kind of a zinger out of the blue," Keohane recently told the Yale Daily News. "It was the accident of timing that it came on Dick's watch and not mine...

Cline: Was Nifong Right?

Posted on January 08, 2009
Durham County's new "minister of justice," Tracey Cline, continues to display an utter indifference to pursuit of truth or ethical responsibility in office. In an interview with ABC-11's Tamara Gibbs, Cline boasted of her decision to invite to her inauguration a figure disbarred by the State Bar and deemed a "rogue prosecutor" by the state Attorney General...

News

Posted on January 07, 2009
Two pieces of news: The Herald-Sun reports that taxi driver Moezeldin Elmostafa has settled his civil suit against the department store chain whose bogus allegations of shoplifting were used by Mike Nifong and the DPD to pressure Elmostafa to change his story in the lacrosse case...

Cline: Symbolism and Prosecutorial Ethics

Posted on January 06, 2009
Newly inaugurated Durham County district attorney Tracey Cline--fresh off a campaign in which she at best misled and at worst lied to Durham voters regarding her position on the lacrosse case--sent a powerful message about the role that ethics will (or, in this case, will not) play in her office...

December Events in the Case

Posted on December 31, 2008
New developments in the civil suit, and old names up to no good dominated December.A Duke filing issued a blunt warning to parents of prospective students at the institution: the Faculty Handbook might require professors to teach students with respect, and the student bulletin might state that Duke students should not experience discrimination based on race, gender, or other personal status, but ?the Duke bulletin is not a valid contract...

Alternate Realities

Posted on December 22, 2008
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Tracey Cline: Purge Ahead?

Posted on December 18, 2008
p class="MsoNormal"Employees of the st1:place st="on"st1:placename st="on"Durham/st1:placename st1:placetype st="on"County/st1:placetype/st1:place district attorney?s office received a letter recently from the county?s soon-to-be ?minister of justice,? Tracey Cline:/pp class="MsoNormal"br //p p class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p a onblur="try {parent...

Ten Questions for Rev. Barber

Posted on December 16, 2008
Perhaps I?m naïve, but I think that most people expect ministers to tell the truth. But the head of the North Carolina NAACP, Rev. William Barber, seems to have a lot of trouble with that qualification. In a WRAL on-line forum, Barber was recently called to task for his organization?s guilt-presuming approach to the lacrosse case...

Durham's Punctuation Thesis

Posted on December 15, 2008
Durham attorneys have made another filing?in the process, of course, upping the ?defense costs? under which the city?s insurance policy kicks in and Durham loses its qualified immunity?reiterating the city?s demand to toss out all state claims. The filing is a peculiar one...

Durham's Vanishing Comma

Posted on December 10, 2008
A few weeks back, Durham attorneys filed a motion requesting summary judgment regarding elements of the civil suits dealing with state law. They cited a recent decision, Pettiford v. City of Greensboro, to contend that they had immunity. The basic argument: the city has immunity from state-based tort claims, since Durham?s insurance policies were written in such a way not to pierce the immunity the city enjoyed...

Alternate Realities

Posted on December 07, 2008
As John in Carolina has noted, Duke Magazine (the journal sent to all Duke alumni) recently published a long article detailing efforts to improve campus safety. Nothing in the article was in any way objectionable, and much of it was commendable. The head of the volunteer Duke student EMS?an organization once under Student Life but now, more appropriately, under the jurisdiction of the Duke Police?discussed his positive experiences with the Duke Police, who he praised for their professionalism and dedication...

New Civil Suit Filings

Posted on December 07, 2008
Late November featured several filings in the civil suit?some from the plaintiffs, mostly repeating previously advanced arguments, and an explosive filing from Bob Ekstrand, raising serious questions about the Durham legal team?s veracity. Today?s post will look at the defendants? filings; Wednesday?s will examine the Ekstrand filing...

November Events in the Case

Posted on December 05, 2008
November was a relatively light month in the case, with politics taking center stage:North Carolina's senior senator, Republican Elizabeth Dole, lost her bid for re-election. Ten weeks after AG Roy Cooper declared the players innocent victims of a rogue prosecutor, Dole had preposterously claimed that the lacrosse case was still ?an ongoing criminal investigation and pending judicial proceeding...

Nifong Loses Ruling

Posted on December 04, 2008
Unsurprisingly, Judge James Beaty has upheld the ruling of a bankruptcy judge denying Mike Nifong's efforts to use the bankruptcy law to get out of the civil suit.

Asking Questions

Posted on December 01, 2008
Two figures whose performance in the lacrosse case left much to be desired are taking on-line questions:New York Times sports page editor Tom Jolly (the person who supervised Duff Wilson);NAACP head William Barber (the person whose organization posted the guilt-presuming 82-point "memorandum of law")...

Crime & Punishment

Posted on November 30, 2008
The Chronicle reports that Michael Burch was recently arrested on charges of rape. Burch is the same man arrested for rape after a February 2007 party at a house rented by members of Duke?s predominately African-American Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. The Chronicle reminded us that ?police had found marijuana, cocaine and Oxycontin in the house? at which the February 2007 party was held...

Duke As Plaintiff: Sues Its Insurance Company

Posted on November 26, 2008
Both the N&O and the Herald-Sun are reporting that Duke is suing its insurance company, National Union Fire Insurance Co--who Duke accuses of acting in a manner "willful, wanton, malicious, without justification or excuse." The H-S reports,Sources close to the case say National Union is refusing to pay because it believes its policy is capped at $5 million for legal expenses and Duke has submitted legal bills -- alone -- of about $11 million to date, and that Duke refuses to accept the $5 million cap...

Amazing

Posted on November 24, 2008
For those who thought that nothing left in the case could shock them, guess again. The Charlotte Observer revealed that Board of Trustees chairman Bob Steel has become a . . . movie investor. (Steel, of course, has additional time on his hands, having presided over the collapse of Wachovia...

Odds & Ends

Posted on November 17, 2008
The shameless Wendy Murphy is back, this time spouting off in a Boston Globe letter to the editor. Conducting an investigation and presenting physical or DNA or witness evidence in court? Not a requirement, it seems, to Murphy: ?There's nothing inherently difficult about prosecuting rape...

Durham: "State Law Can't Touch Us"

Posted on November 10, 2008
In its most recent filing, the city of Durham claims absolute immunity for the portions of the civil suit dealing with North Carolina law. In some intriguing legal reasoning, Durham?s attorneys concede: A city may waive its governmental immunity under North Carolina law by purchasing liability insurance or participating in a local government risk pool that covers losses arising from tort claims for which a city would otherwise be immune...

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