For those interested in yesterday's Nifong ethics hearing:
Judge Williamson denied the motion to dismiss charges relating to Nifong’s withholding of exculpatory DNA evidence. One of the bloggers at the hearing noted, "I've never seen a court session where the judge lectures the defense attorneys on the law."
durhamwonderland.blogspot.com
Also of interest:
Jim Cooney, one of Reade Seligmann's attorneys, and Brad Bannon have posted on the Liestoppers blog. Jim Cooney said:
Brad Bannon is one of the great heroes of this case. The defense was not tipped off to the DNA and we were not tipped off to Brian Meehan being offered up for examination on December 15th. The DNA information was discovered for one reason only: Brad Bannon literally locked himself in a room with 2,000 pages of laboratory data and reviewed every single page until he understood it. On December 15th, when Nifong offered up Meehan, I think that he never believed that we would take him up on it because he knew that we had not prepared for it. We went forward on the fly with no preparation and led with Brad. In my opinion, his performance was one of the most remarkable things that I have witnessed in a courtroom in my 25 years as a trial lawyer. His performance broke Meehan, exposed Nifong's actions to the world, led to the Bar intervening with ethics charges and, ultimately Nifong's recusal.
In short, he won the case that day.
No wonder Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann have attorneys' bills of millions of bucks. That was the quality of their defense, and that's what it took to win.
Another good post from William Anderson, who has written many commentaries on the case:
One thing that really gets to me. On one level, this case had a sense of inevitability. The charges were transparently false, and we always felt there either would be acquittal or dismissal of the charges, but on the other hand, the State of North Carolina through Nifong's office was able to push these charges as though they were legitimate.
I shudder to think if the following had happened:
1. [Judge] Stephens had remained on the case. This guy is dirty.
2. Nifong had not let Meehan get on the stand.
3. [Judge]Osmond Smith had not ordered Nifong to turn over the DNA papers (no doubt, Stephens would not have done that).
4. The Bar had not filed charges against Nifong while the case was in play. The Bar could have punted and said "We will wait until the case is over."
As good as the legal team was -- and these guys are good, people -- the power of the state is such that crappy, dishonest, and pathetic charges still can stick because the apparatus of the "justice" system goes on the assumption that criminal charges filed by prosecutors automatically are legitimate, or at least have merit.
I am glad for this day, but do not believe that it was as inevitable as I once thought.
z9.invisionfree.com |
