Duke Witness Acquitted

The cab driver who gave Reade Seligmann a ride when prosecutor Michael Nifong claims Seligmann was committing a rape elsewhere was acquitted of criminal charges yesterday. Moezeldin Ahmed Elmostafa gave a ride to shoplifter Lisa Hawkins after she had stolen some purses from a store at a Durham mall three years ago. I earlier blogged that the Duke prosecutor would try to trump up charges against Elmostafa, and he nearly succeeded.

The news story I have linked, however, only tells a tiny portion, and one of the attorneys in the case filled me in this morning. It seems that the prosecution met with Hawkins two nights ago and tried to get her to claim that Elmostafa was in on the theft. She refused to give that story, and was returned to her cell. (The meeting went on for more than an hour, according to the attorney.)

Did the prosecution try to indice Hawkins to give false testimony? I would not be surprised. I have been saying for some time that we are seeing a criminal conspiracy on behalf of the prosecutor and Durham police in this case. If Elmostafa had been convicted, his testimony in the case against Seligmann could have been impeached and part of the clear exculpatory evidence thrown out. In other words, the prosecution was trying to perpetuate a lie in order to win a case.

On another front, Stuart Taylor has a devastating story criticizing the New York Times for that awful article it published last week on the Duke case. A number of bloggers, including me, tore into that piece of propaganda for the prosecution, but Taylor not only finishes the job, but also brings in new information that further demonstrates that this prosecution is a lie, and involves criminal actions on behalf of Nifong and the Durham police.

While some readers have sent critical emails telling me this case is meaningless and that I am a fool (or worse) for pursuing it, I consider it important because we are seeing government agents actively breaking the law in broad daylight, and so far getting away with it. State oppression does not only occur at the national level, but also at state and local levels and needs to be exposed for what it is.

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7:52 am on August 30, 2006