[QUOTE=Weirddave]
As a result, and in spite of the fact that there was no evidence to support her claims, despite her story changing almost daily and in spit of the fact that no DNA evidence matching any of the Lax players
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Well in a sexual assault case, the most compelling evidence has to be the accuser’s story. The implications of not doing that would be disastrous, period.
You can’t put children and other victims of sexual assault under undo scrutiny if you intend on maintaining a system where victims feel free to come forward. This is how it has to work. Sure, some honest people will get fucked because of this, but that is he way it has to work.
Second, you are condensing a lot of stuff into a few sentences, and not giving people the benefit of the doubt. According to the the defendents’ own lawyer they engaged in some shady business. During the initial period, I don’t think the DA did too badly considering you take the following information into account:
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Most women who claim to be raped are telling the truth
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Most that are lying would not make up such a sensational, more readily falsifiable story, and be willing to identify their attackers.
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According to many objective people, Durham/Duke has a history of tension between the black and white population there.
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One of the accused was recently arrested for assault, and using a homophobic slur, other members of the team have been cited for drinking and rowdiness, and have been arrested.
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The players admit the accuser was in the house alone, that she was injured while at the residence, and that someone at the party asked her to use a broom as a sex toy, among other perverse things. In addition, there is an e-mail form a player talking about “killing the bitches”.
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You have a seemingly convincing victim who, is injured, appears to have recently had sex, and has, at that point, not wavered from her story.
How do you not go forward with this case? I’m sorry, but just because the case turned to shit later doesn’t mean everybody was trying to screw these “good” kids. There was no rush to judgement. It took almost a month before they were arrested and indicted. How long do you think they wait to arrest normal poor people when they are accused of even a minor crime?
Now, it becomes clear later on that Nifong lied to the public, didn’t do any of the necessary leg work to find out the truth of what happened there, engaged in prosecutorial misconduct, and that the accuser was lying, but let’s not pretend that those 88 professors were trying to hang these kids out to dry just because they resented them or something. What they were doing is using the case a proxy by which they could argue for a cessation of the injustices faced by blacks at Duke and in the Durham area, and that whites be held as equally accountable for their actions. Now, obviously, they picked the wrong poster girl, but it does not invalidate their message. They obviously owe the accused an apology, but lets not get crazy. There are plenty of people accused of sexual assault everyday that do not have the resources these kids had, that did not invite their accusers to their house, ask them to stick brooms in their vaginas, and write e-mails about killing people, and get arrested for other crimes. These kids didn’t even have to go to trial. Yes, it sucks, it’s wrong, and it should happen to anybody, but it does (Often) and the selective outrage, and “deep sympathies” the victims (the Duke players) in this case is a bit overboard.
[QUOTE=Weirddave]
(but lots of DNA from 4 or more other men (LWCM apparently is the poster child for the term “cum dumpster”)), these 3 men were charged with rape, castigated nationally, paid $5 million dollars on lawyers, were subject to lost job opportunities, failed classes and even public calls for their castration…
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First, you’re an asshole. Calling someone a lying whore, and a cum dumpster says a lot more about you than it does anyone else. I’d find it hard to believe that you are not an angry hateful person in general. That being said, you were right about the case. Everyone who disagreed with you can eat crow, but you are doing the same thing the professors are/were and then trying to castigate them for it. I can’t believe your zealoutry wrt this case is solely due to the facts of this case. Sorry, don’t buy it. Considering that some studies have found that as many as 25% of rape accusations are false, there a many people who undergo similar or worse things than the Duke kids did. Where was your the outrage then? When Mike Tyson went to jail for rape, very few people came out to call the accuser a “lying whore”, even though she probably was lying. Alan Dershowitz wrote a book about how grossly unfair his trial was, and how he was probably innocent, yet the public outrage was not there for him like it is for these kids. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be offended by this, but let’s not pretend this is solely about a miscarriage of justice for anyone involved; there are greater stakes here, and that is the sad part. The fact they were used as pawns to make a cheap point by people on both sides (with you included) is what is sad. If you really gave a shit about people getting fucked by the legal system, you would do something about it, and not just pick a side and call everyone else names.
