Duke Rape Hoax Wrap-Up

This never came out until now: one of the rich duke crackers falsely accused of raping a crazy black stripper was, at the time, enrolled as the only honkey in in a "black studies" class. On top of that, his study partner for the class responded by authoring one of the countless groundless accusatory essays against him, published in one of the campus rags.

What a mess that was. Everybody "knew" that these guys were guilty assholes, and the same people lambasting them as racist hoodlums preposterously demanded that the accused should in news articles not be described as a "stripper" but as a "student and single mom." But the inciting incident did not involve her being a student or a single mom; she wasn't at the alleged crime scene dropping off her kid at day care or studying with a school mate. She was there as a stripper; her role as a mom and student were irrelevant to the story.

After getting disbarred, a reporter asked Nifong if he still thought that the Dukies assaulted Magnum (the accuser), he refused to admit the obvious, and instead held on beyond all logic: "something happened to make everybody leave that scene very quickly." Yes, clearly to all who have seen the facts: After a dispute over the money paid by the Dukies to the strippers, the strippers "left mad", with "Stripper 2" declaring that they were going to call the cops to report underage drinking and supplying booze to minors.

The NYT did a pretty spectacular job defaming the falsely accused, and bolstering the fantastic accusation long after it began falling apart; its report of the DA's disbarment received far less coverage. At least now the NYT reveals to its readers (who already know this from reading other sources) that the false accuser who had zero DNA from the accused had semen samples from four other men. Two of the falsehoods promoted by the NYT's biased reporting: that this cased "lacked DNA evidence", and that "most rape cases proceed without DNA evidence." To the contrary: this case *had* DNA evidence, albeit evidence that exonerated the accused; and approximately no rape charges survive such evidence. The oft-cited, and inappropriately applied statistic about lack of DNA evidence pertains to cases where, say, the accused comes forward weeks or longer after the alleged incident, when DNA evidence cannot be taken, not an hour later as in this case.

Finally, where are all the loud, angry supporters of this accusation? Shouldn't they either be protesting even more loudly now that the "mother and student" rape victim has been so thoroughly "disrespected" that all charges have been dropped, and the prosecutor now prosecuted? Or shouldn't they just as loudly as before now admit that they were wrong, cheer justice for the unjustly accused, and extend a hand of friendship to them in an effort to win their celebrated support for assisting others in a similar lot?

Nifong's Swan Song, by LaShawn Barber

Nifong confided to cops early on that the charges lacked evidence. "The testimony about Nifong from Det. Himan is key because not only does it provide strong evidence that the DA was intent on forcing a false first-degree felony case to trial based on nothing but the accuser’s shaky story, but also that Nifong knew he had no case when he came to Durham’s African-American community during a public forum at NCCU on April 11, 2006, two weeks after the allegations made worldwide news, and assured everyone, including Mayor Bill Bell, that despite a lack of DNA evidence, he would, and could, continue to seek justice."