From
Mary Katherine Ham at The Federalist:
5. When NYT’s Public Editor Explained the Media’s Inability to Cover This Fairly
New York Times Public Editor Dan Okrent diagnosed the media coverage of the case in the documentary as journalists excited to find all their pet social-justice issues in one story.
“It was white over black, it was male over female, it was rich over poor, educated over uneducated. All the things that we know happen in the world coming together in one place and journalists, they start to quiver with a thrill when something like this happens,” Okrent said.
6. When Social Justice Protesters Didn’t Understand Due Process
One of the most frequently spotted protest signs in Durham in the wake of the Duke lacrosse case indictments was “Get a Conscience, Not a Lawyer.” The signs were a reference to the alleged “wall of silence” the players had employed to protect the team.
The residents of the house where the party occurred had been cooperative with a search warrant. The entire team submitted to DNA samples. But they were accused by police, Nifong, and media of being obstructive because team members denied accusations and acquired lawyers to get them through the process, as anyone accused of a crime should do.
A poster featuring all of the lacrosse team members’ pictures was distributed widely on campus and around town with the headline, “Please Come Forward.” There was, it turns out, nothing to come forward about.
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8. When a Coach Stood By His Players and Lost His Job
Coach Mike Pressler had been coaching Duke’s lacrosse time for more than 15 years. During that time, the team had made many NCAA tournament appearances and an appearance in the championship game in 2005. When the story broke about the party and alleged assault, he stood by his team, arguing the season should not be canceled until evidence emerged. They had been expected to be national championship contenders.
The university fired Pressler. He went on to settle with Duke for wrongful termination. He is now the head coach at Bryant University and coached the national men’s lacrosse team in 2010.
“I was actually advised to distance myself from them and at that time that was like blasphemy,” Pressler said in the documentary.
9. When a Young Lawyer Had a Perry Mason Moment That Revealed a Conspiracy
Nifong had a private DNA lab process samples after the state’s public lab came up empty, producing conclusions more favorable to Nifong’s case.
“I was pretty curious to know, how could our state crime lab and this private lab come up with two pretty fundamentally different conclusions,” said attorney Brad Bannon.
Nifong handed over 2,500 pages of raw, technical DNA data to the defense. Bannon bought a book on Amazon about forensic DNA and went to work. He discovered unidentified DNA for numerous men in and on Mangum and her clothing that hadn’t been reported. He found notes indicating lab director Brian Meehan’s DNA was also present.
“So a Ph.D doing everything he can not to contaminate the DNA leaves more DNA in this rape kit than the entire Duke lacrosse team put together,” Cooney said.
At a hearing nine months after the party, Nifong tried to take the defense by surprise, presenting Meehan as his DNA expert before they had prepared to cross-examine him. The defense team decided to have Bannon question him on the spot.
“It became fairly clear about 10-15 minutes into it that the expert realized that Brad [Bannon] knew what the hell he was talking about,” Cooney said.
The defense team confronted Meehan with whether he had agreed with Nifong to withhold some DNA results: “There’s only one answer to this question, and that answer being yes. Because we did not report the reference profiles of those specimens and we did talk about not reporting those,” Meehan said.
There was applause in the courtroom.
10. When the Falsely Accused Players Showed More Maturity Than Their Professors and the Media
All of the accused players are involved with the Innocence Project, which uses DNA evidence to overturn wrongful convictions. Said Reade Seligmann, upon his exoneration:
“This entire experience has opened my eyes to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed. If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can’t imagine what they’d do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves.”
Smart kid.
To this day, most of the Duke faculty and leadership who prejudged the lacrosse players remain in their positions and have never apologized. Media figures who apologized or retracted are few and far between. Instead, most coverage offered grudging reporting on the dismissal of charges.
Remember, the faculty at Duke, who were part of the railroading of these players are TYPICAL of the faculties of most universities. The same ones who are backing the use of Title IX to expel men from school. The same one, who push the lie of 1 - 5 women are sexually assaulted. One like, now former Professor, Melissa Click of Missouri.
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