I already know how to be a Traffic Court defense attorney:
“Your honor, my client regrets having driven 45 in a 30 miles per hour zone and requests that, as this is her first moving violation in 20 years of driving, she be granted court supervision.”
“Your honor, because the arresting officer is in the courtroom, my client requests a continance until such time that the officer is on vacation or is otherwise too busy to come to court.”
Can I be a District Attorney now?
I’m not defending Nifong, but the lead-up below, which Contrapuntal has already spoken to, is why I’m questioning the change in him.
From The New Yorker (Sept. 4, 2006) (hope it’s not too much for “fair use”):
"On Monday, March 27th [2006] . . . , Michael B. Nifong, publicly associated himself with the case for the first time. Nifong was virtually unknown in Durham, despite having spent twenty-seven years in the prosecutor’s office, but among attorneys he had the reputation of being a fair and capable prosecutor (“probably the best lawyer in that office,” the Durham defense attorney Tom Loflin says). Starting out as a volunteer assistant, he worked his way up to assistant district attorney prosecuting homicide and drug cases, and got his share of convictions. Acquaintances say that Nifong never coveted the top job; he wasn’t political, and lacked the appetite and the instinct for public campaigning . . . .
**In 1999, Nifong learned that he had prostate cancer, and underwent treatment. When he was able to return to work, his boss, District Attorney Jim Hardin, Jr., assigned him to traffic court—a sort of early semi-retirement. **
Last year, when Hardin was appointed to a judgeship, Governor Mike Easley appointed Nifong to finish his term. Nifong, who was just a few years short of reaching his thirty-year mark, subsequently announced that he would run for a full term in the spring . . . ." [emphasis mine]
Yeah - maybe Nifong did chew up the license out of frustration or disrespect. DNA testing and bitemark analysis are in order.
So, he spends what, four, five years chasing auto accidencts and speeders, then suddenly decides that he’s ready to step back into the spotlight? That’s a stupid call. Especially when he had a office full of better-qualified, current prosecutors who could handle the case. IOW, he wasn’t functioning. Not as a DA should, that’s for sure. Not even as a smart politician should.
The only purpose was as grand-stand play so he could run for the office that, IIRC, he’d previously agreed to not run for when appointed. That’s not ‘functioning,’ that’s raw greed.
Is anybody else a little bit bothered by the level of RO directed toward Nifong versus other instances of prosecutorial misconduct or run of the mill miscarriages of justice?
Not that it’s actual evidence of anything, but…
Tulia: 52 posts
Nifong: 447 posts
I’m not saying Nifong isn’t a douchebag, but the discrepancy in the amount of vitriol kinda makes me go “Hmmmm…”
I’m not disagreeing with you or defending Nifong; I’m just commenting on the fact the for such an under-the-radar career up that point, he sure went to the other extreme.
Well, there, you certainly have my agreement. I think we all understand why he did it. But he damned well should have known better.
This no doubt derives from the enormous amount of media attention that the Duke Lacrosse case attracted.
And the person who did the most to pander to that attention? … [envelope, please] … Why, it’s Mike Nifong!
This is the sort of horseshit which makes me very crazy. I posted a beef about one shitstain, but because I didn’t give equal consideration to a shitstain of a different color, I’m a bad guy?
This isn’t recreational outrage, whatever that stupid phrase is supposed to mean.
Tell ya what. Let’s set up an equal opportunity Pit Committee so that any complaint about a public individual who has their head up their ass isn’t misrepresented disproportionately based upon the registered member demographic of The Straight Dope. Is that fair?
:rolleyes:
Definately NOT ‘RO.’ Nifong seriously damaged race relations in the community, pretty thoroughly fucked up the lives of three young men, and cast law enforcement in a horrible light. The damage he’s done will take years to undo, if indeed all of it can be undone.
Me too.
With “Axel F” as the background music.