The Duke Case: The AG's "Candor And Scorn"

By: Andrew Cohen
Topics: Field Notes

(CBS)

Lawyer Andrew Cohen analyzes legal affairs for CBS News and CBSNews.com.

In a remarkable display of both candor and scorn, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper this afternoon tore into Durham County District Attorney Michael Nifong for his scandalous work in the Duke Lacrosse sexual assault case. Refusing to extend any professional courtesy to his fellow member of the bar, refusing to talk like other public officials talk about one another, Cooper eviscerated Nifong and his strategies and tactics throughout this controversial case, stopping short only when he was asked whether he thought the prosecutor himself should now be brought up on obstruction of justice charges.

What was wrong with Nifong's work? According to Cooper, the better question to ask is what was right about it. Cooper said his investigation revealed that the eyewitness evidence in the case was "faulty and unreliable." He said that no "DNA evidence confirmed" the story offered by the alleged victim. He said that "no other witnesses confirmed" her story and that "other evidence" in the case "contradicted" her story. "She contradicts herself," Cooper added in what surely could be an epitaph to this whole sordid affair. Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Cooper talked about "rogue prosecutors" and said that "these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations." Then he went even further. He didn't just say that there was no good evidence against the defendants, he said that they are "innocent of these charges" And finally he went furthest of all, even proposing a law— perhaps we should call it the Michael Nifong Avoidance Act of 2007—which would ensure that there are proper "internal checks" in North Carolina upon a prosecutor's core powers. Imagine doing your job so poorly as a prosecutor that the state's top lawyer pitches a law to make sure it doesn't happen again?

Maybe there is some bad blood between Cooper and Nifong. I wouldn't doubt it based upon what Cooper said today. But whether there is or there isn't, whether Cooper kicked a man while he was down, the fact is that Nifong made an extraordinary, historical mess of this highly emotional case. He arrested the young men too quickly before he had thoroughly evaluated the evidence against them. He mouthed off to the media just days after the assault. He messed around with DNA results instead of immediately releasing them to the defendants. I could go on and on. No defendant anywhere deserves to be treated the way these young men were.

I guess it is now Nifong's turn to offer his perspective on all of this—his rebuttal to the charges leveled against him today by Cooper in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately for Nifong, his bully pulpit as district attorney has been temporarily replaced with a gag order thanks to the ethics case he now faces. He will have to remain silent and discreet until that proceeding concludes and then have to hope that the sanctions he receives as a result of the charges against him are not so onerous that they drive him completely out of the profession. Based upon Cooper's point of view, that possibility isn't out of the question.

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by scottlsf April 12, 2007 10:33 PM EDT: Where is Sharpton & Jackson now on the Duke case? They were on their soapboxes like no tomorrow when this case first broke! Where is THEIR apology to the Duke players? I want to see them APOLOGIZE!!!!

Once they start going after the rappers, black and white, that degrade women and tell these young kids to kill cops, then maybe someone would take Sharpton & Jackson serious.

Oh, and this is my last post, you fired someone who I do not like, Imus, but ONLY because of Sharpton & Jackson! You are spineless for what you did, he apologized and that was enough!; Reply to this comment


by scottlsf April 12, 2007 10:28 PM EDT: You are morons for what you did to Imus, you have lost my business! I love 60 minutes and have watched it for year but no more! You let some idiot like Sharpton tell you what to do???? Give me a break, that is what is wrong with America today, everyone feels they are a victim! You all need to listen to Bill Cosby and do as he says, clean up your own back yard first!; Reply to this comment


by tcoleman12 April 12, 2007 12:16 PM EDT: Skrapa,

Because you had issues growing up and some negative memories of Duke does not allow you to condemn these three INNOCENT men. What you are showing, sir, is your obvious bias and racism toward and institution, a region of the US and possibly whites in general.

I grew up in the south. But those types of jokes did not go on in our house.

To mend and improve race relations in America the cycle has to be broken. It starts with how we raise our children. Raise your children to respect other races, as I do, and things improve. Raise them with the hurt and anger you have, nothing changes.; Reply to this comment


by lilbean6 April 12, 2007 6:03 AM EDT: the duke case is typical of america today. guilty until proven innocent. drive up to a licence check, you must prove your legal to drive, police don't have to prove your not.
gonzales and the eight atty's? yep, prove your innocent mr. gonzales. scooter libby? never mind there are no charges of anyone outing valerie plame, someones gotta pay.
pay attention folks, your being subjicated.; Reply to this comment


by erichsh April 12, 2007 1:31 AM EDT: Those Rutgers basketball players are off prattling about how they've been "scarred for life" by Imus's 30-second comment, and the media trumpets them word for word and Sharpton, etc. demands his head. Here we have three young men who have been living under the triple swords of a maniacal prosecutor, the same black activists, and media evisceration for almost two years and their comment? "We're glad its over". Now who's really scarred for life here?; Reply to this comment


by gcohen6 April 11, 2007 10:04 PM EDT: I believe there is a connection of the Duke players and the issue with Imus. The connection is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

In the Duke case they were right up front in the limelight playing it up for all they could. They had judged and convicted these kids and they stirred up the black community in what can only be described as a mob mentality. These kids were lucky they weren't lynched.

Now we see Sharpton and Jackson doing the same thing to Imus. He is being lynched for a misspeak.
Their solution is all out of proportion with the deed. No one is perfect, yet they expect perfection, even when they each had their own transgressions.

This country is losing perspective. Hate is in the air and society is on a hair trigger.; Reply to this comment


by addisonparks_dotmac April 11, 2007 8:51 PM EDT: There is a lot to this story. The DA twist is lock step with the hearings in Washington concerning Gonzales and the White House and getting DAs in line(lock step?) with their agenda.

Thus the great divide. To Kill A Mockingbird was not only the first serious novel I read as a boy, it was also the most memorable movie experience of my youth. I loved it. I believed it. I believed in the good it sought to represent.

Quite by accident I ended up in the South as a teen. Almost all the white people were racist. It was shocking. They were entitled, and jokes about blacks (and jews of course) were a great pass time. The worst jokes, the most unmentionable came from my girlfriend's brother. You guessed it. Duke. Every semester he came home with new ones.
What was most amazing was how often the "adults" tried to justify it, you know, tell me how things "were."

Look at the picture at the top of this article. Look at all the talking heads. This is an all white male jury. Especially on Fox. Justice doesn't enter into it. Something happened. Something wrong. Who will ever know? Not us. Rich, powerful white men have won the day. These young men are not innocent. Wrong has happened here and of this I am convinced. Where is Atticus Finch when we need him?; Reply to this comment