Duke Prosecutor: “Don’t Confuse Me with the Truth”

In today’s New York Times, we read that the attorney for one of the accused LAX players wanted to meet with the prosecutor to show him the evidence that the player he represents could not have been at the site of the alleged rape when it supposedly occurred.

Not surprisingly, the prosecutor refused to meet with him. According to the attorney, J. Kirk Osborn:

“I’ve known the guy for 25 years,” Mr. Osborn said. “I went over and thought surely he’d listen to me on it. And he sent some messenger out and said: ‘I saw you on the TV saying your client was absolutely innocent, so what do we have to talk about?’ He wouldn’t even see me himself.”

In other words, Michael Nifong, the Democratic district attorney, is declaring: “Don’t confuse me with facts.” What we have here is an example of prosecutorial misconduct in which the prosecutor refuses to look at real evidence that might weaken his own case. Instead, we have a man determined to convict someone of what used to be a capital crime no matter what evidence exists. And the horrifying thing is that a large number of people in Durham and at Duke University apparently agree with him.

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11:41 am on April 20, 2006