An Open Letter to Roy Cooper, Part III: What to Say When You Drop
the Charges
by
William L. Anderson
by William L. Anderson
DIGG THIS
In my previous
two open letters to you, I urged you to do the right thing and drop
charges. I also urged you to tell the truth, as opposed to continuing
the "something happened" fiction that has been driving
the Duke Non-Rape, Non-Kidnapping, and Non-Sexual Assault case.
In this my
third and last open letter to you, I am including the statement
that I believe you should make when you announce that you are dropping
the charges. While you may not appreciate my suggestions, I think
that you would be wise to follow them – if you want to get to the
bottom of this case. Should you decide to do what others have done,
then you will pay no attention to my words, but if you want to do
what is right, well, you know what to do.
Before launching
into the speech that you should make, let me state one more important
point: Up to now, not one person associated with the State of North
Carolina, Durham County, or the City of Durham has told the truth.
Literally every government employee has lied. Police, prosecutors,
the Durham city manager, and others not one time have made a public
utterance on this case that was true. That is not an impressive
record, sir, and you have a golden opportunity to reverse this sorry
track record.
Thus, I will
present the speech that I hope you will make when you (finally)
drop these false charges:
I would like
to thank everyone for coming today. First, and most important,
I am announcing that the State of North Carolina is dropping all
charges that have been levied against David Evans, Collin Finnerty,
and Reade Seligmann. Second, in dropping these charges, let me
emphasize that these charges never should have been filed in the
first place.
This was
a fraudulent case from the beginning. There never was a rape,
a kidnapping, or sexual assault. None of these ever occurred,
and we can find no evidence whatsoever that any of these three
young men even touched the accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum.
I give you
the accuser’s name – which most of you know already – because
her lies have caused horrific damage to these young men and their
families, to the other lacrosse players and their families, to
Duke University, to Durham, and to the State of North Carolina
itself. She did not have to lie, but she did, and terrible things
have happened since then.
In the course
of conducting this investigation, however, I can say that we have
uncovered a number of potential crimes that were committed. None
of these involved the young men in question; instead, these alleged
crimes were committed by the Durham police and Durham County District
Attorney Michael B. Nifong. These are serious allegations of criminal
misconduct, and if they warrant charges, our office will aggressively
pursue them to the fullest extent of the law. We cannot and will
not forget that Mr. Nifong was seeking to have these young men
thrown into prison for perhaps the rest of their lives on false
charges – charges that he should have known were false.
This is a grievous abuse of the law, and it cannot and will not
remain unchallenged.
At the beginning
of his "investigation," Mr. Nifong made a number of
public comments that claimed that members of the Duke University
lacrosse team were rapists who had engaged in a hate crime. I
do not intend to follow his example and declare that he and members
of the Durham Police Department are guilty; instead, we will permit
the legal process to work – as it should have in the first place.
In defending
themselves against these obviously false charges, the families
of the defendants have incurred millions of dollars in legal bills.
To help make things right, the State of North Carolina will reimburse
them for their expenses. While this does not lessen the legal
liability that the state has brought upon itself through this
false prosecution, at least it will be the beginning of what we
hope will be a healing process. Had the system worked in the way
in which it is supposed to work, they never would have had to
incur any legal bills.
During the
past decade, the justice system of North Carolina has gained a
less-than-stellar reputation, with high-profile wrongful convictions
and false prosecutions. This practice must stop immediately, and
it will stop only when prosecutors begin to take seriously the
codes of conduct which govern their work. You can be assured that
this office will zealously and tirelessly seek to make sure that
prosecutors work to charge and convict people who have committed
serious crimes, as opposed to creating "crimes" out
of whole cloth, or bringing the wrong people to trial. We can
restore public confidence in our office only if prosecutors are
honest and forthright in their dealings. That clearly was not
the case in the false prosecution of these three young men, and
all of you can see the price that must be paid when prosecutors
no longer care about doing what is right.
I would like
to give my most sincere apologies to the families of Mr. Evans,
Mr. Finnerty, and Mr. Seligmann. It has been a most difficult
year for all of you, and these young men have been robbed of many
things because people entrusted with guarding the justice system
decided to seek their own political gain. Although I cannot return
that year to them, I can promise them, their families, friends,
and loved ones, that this office will be tireless in its investigation
of what went wrong and why Mr. Nifong decided to bring these false
charges even though he had no credible evidence.
It is a dark
day for justice in North Carolina, but let me add that it also
is a good day. Any time someone in my position can help to right
a serious wrong, it is a step in the right direction. I hope that
there will be no need of future announcements like this because
prosecutors and police will be diligent in seeking the truth instead
of seeking to bolster their own personal and political fortunes.
Granted, Mr.
Cooper, this does not cover everything that is needed, but I think
you get the picture. The State of North Carolina wronged these young
men and their families, and wronged them greatly, and while you
cannot restore the time lost and repair all of the damage that your
"justice" system has done to them, at least you can begin
the process of making things right.
Many of us
are counting on you to do the right thing. During this three-month
investigation, you found that there was no basis at all for bringing
charges, and I can only imagine the abuses of the law that you uncovered.
Please shine as much light upon those abuses and seek to apply the
high bar of justice wherever it may lead.
Doing such
things not only would be the morally correct thing to do, but it
also would be your best political move. As I pointed out
in a previous letter, Nifong’s support in the black community of
Durham is next-to-zero, and most people have come to understand
that the entire affair was a hoax. Thus, the way is paved for you
to properly investigate Nifong’s actions and those actions of the
Durham police and to let that investigation lead you to wherever
it points.
 This
is your opportunity, sir. Take advantage of the circumstances and
do what is right. That is all that I ask, and all that the families
of these young men will ask.
April
10, 2007
William
L. Anderson, Ph.D. [send him
mail], teaches economics at Frostburg State University in Maryland,
and is an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig
von Mises Institute.
Copyright
© 2007 LewRockwell.com
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