# Whatever happened to that DA who fairly recently railroaded the Duke students? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2009, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935 "2009-02-15T11:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/1 "2009-02-15T11:22:14Z")
Did he go to jail? Lose his license? If he’s walking around free, does he currently have a job? Doing what? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/2 "2009-02-15T11:34:26Z")
Lost his law license and his job. Spent 1 night in jail. Filed for bankruptcy and the students are suing him and Duke. Not sure what his job is now. Even the students not accused on the team are suing Duke based on all the publicity about the team as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/3 "2009-02-15T11:38:34Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Lost his law license and his job. Spent 1 night in jail. Filed for bankruptcy and the students are suing him and Duke. Not sure what his job is now. Even the students not accused on the team are suing Duke based on all the publicity about the team as a whole. Thanks **Bijou Drains**. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/4 "2009-02-15T12:28:36Z")
His name, for easier reference, is [Mike Nifong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nifong) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/5 "2009-02-15T13:47:28Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > His name, for easier reference, is [Mike Nifong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nifong) Great reference. Thanks very much, **Sublight.** ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/6 "2009-02-15T14:17:15Z")
Did she ever pay any penalty for false accusations? Or was she allowed a pass on this? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/7 "2009-02-15T14:26:11Z")
Generally prosecutors are allowed to prosecute without fear of sanctions. Only in the egregious cases (like this one) can they be called to account. In this case the guy served a couple of nights in jail. That is of course inadequate, but the law gives prosecutors wide powers to exercise their judgement. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/8 "2009-02-15T14:30:49Z")
The guy who replaced Nifong for a while is the father of a kid on my son’s soccer team. I never asked him about the Duke case, but I did ask him about a previous case that he worked on that was high profile. It was a murder case and I read a book on it so I asked him if he read the book, he said he had not but the author gave him a copy of the book. Now he’s back to being the assistant DA. Durham elected a new DA in November. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/9 "2009-02-15T14:35:05Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The guy who replaced Nifong for a while is the father of a kid on my son’s soccer team. I never asked him about the Duke case, but I did ask him about a previous case that he worked on that was high profile. It was a murder case and I read a book on it so I asked him if he read the book, he said he had not but the author gave him a copy of the book. Now he’s back to being the assistant DA. Durham elected a new DA in November. So what’s the book’s title, already? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/10 "2009-02-15T14:35:49Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Did she ever pay any penalty for false accusations? Or was she allowed a pass on this? Crystal Gayle Mangum graduated from North Carolina Central University. She was not perused by Da Man since the NC Attorney general figured she she really was bonkers, truly believing each contradictory story. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/11 "2009-02-15T15:04:17Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > In this case the guy served a couple of nights in jail. Unfortunately, the penalty for attepmpting to frame three innocent students based on accusations he knew _for certain_ were false was only one night in jail. It should be noted that an assistant DA (Tracy Cline) won the election to become the new DA. Her special invited guest at her inaguration? Mike Nifong. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/12 "2009-02-15T15:08:51Z")
> [@UncleBill](#): > > the NC Attorney general figured she she really was bonkers, truly believing each contradictory story. She has since published a book claiming her stories were consistent and true. Not surprisingly, the book devotes little space to any discussion of the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/13 "2009-02-15T15:23:17Z")
That whole thing is disgusting, but it does do a good job of summing up the lunatic political atmosphere in Durham, and at Duke and NCCU specifically. Kinda’ miss that place sometimes. Incidentally, lest anyone forget his name, I’ve started to try using Nifong as a verb. “Don’t mess with teh DA. He’ll Nifong you…” How did that book sell, anyway? Is it likely she’ll get sued if she sees any revenue from this, or is the SOL up? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/14 "2009-02-15T15:37:24Z")
The book was “A Perfect Husband” by Aphrodite Jones, it was about the Mike Petersen murder trial, he was convicted of killing his wife. He was the other Petersen who killed his wife and got a lot of national publicity, but not nearly as much as Scott Petersen. Durham has had a lot of problems recently , Nifong is just one of them. The school board is a mess, they fired a city manager, they had a hard time finding a new police chief, etc. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/15 "2009-02-15T18:03:18Z")
I was wondering if anyone ever disciplined, at least symbolically, the idiot professors who angrily denounced the lacrosse team (as it occured, for nothing, and well in advance of the evidence). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/16 "2009-02-15T18:09:46Z")
Being familiar with the local culture, it would be argued that the lacrosse team was partially at fault for the oppressive culture that would have created the actions which, had they occurred, they would have been undertaking by victimizing Lying Whore Crystal. The white members of the lacrosse team are symbolically guilty no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/17 "2009-02-15T18:20:06Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I was wondering if anyone ever disciplined, at least symbolically, the idiot professors who angrily denounced the lacrosse team (as it occured, for nothing, and well in advance of the evidence). Hell, I doubt any of em even made apologies, much less any that were near as public and vehement as their accustations. Front page news corrections…see page 24 of section F…in fine print. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/18 "2009-02-15T19:10:08Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > Being familiar with the local culture, it would be argued that the lacrosse team was partially at fault for the oppressive culture that would have created the actions which, had they occurred, they would have been undertaking by victimizing Lying Whore Crystal. > The white members of the lacrosse team are symbolically guilty no matter what. Did the Duke people specifically ask for a black stripper? I don’t know. If all they asked for was a stripper and they got Crystal, didn’t she create the minority situation? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/19 "2009-02-15T19:15:00Z")
I’m referring to the oppressive action that many of the lacrosse team members undertook: that is, being white in a country where white people do or used to systematically oppress non-whites. That is almost certainly what the faculty in question was really criticizing them for. Substitute “male” for white up there and you’ve got an equally valid statement. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935/20 "2009-02-15T19:23:36Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I was wondering if anyone ever disciplined, at least symbolically, the idiot professors who angrily denounced the lacrosse team (as it occured, for nothing, and well in advance of the evidence). Nope, not at all, and don’t hold your breath for any apologies. The idiot professors were known as the Group of 88 and come off like a bad Rush Limbaugh parody of liberal college professors. There is an excellent blog about the case called [Durham in Wonderland](http://www.durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/). It is still being updated as lawsuits are still ongoing. The archives are great if you want to learn about the just plain craziness of the whole affair. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-that-da-who-fairly-recently-railroaded-the-duke-students/485935.md?page=2)