The infamous and evil Mike Nifong, the DA who insists on gaining a conviction in the Duke non-rape case, assures people that the arrest of a defense witness on what appear to be trumped up charges really had nothing to do with the non-rape case. And, no, the police really didn’t ask him about the case. Just ask Mike, he’ll always tell you the truth.

This situation reminds me of a federal case in Roanoke, Virginia, in which the feds arrested three men on charges that clearly were trumped up. These men were well-known anti-abortion advocates, and the FBI wanted them to spy on someone from Operation Rescue. An agent came to see them and said that the request that they become domestic spies was “the lollipop on the table.”

The men refused, and they went to trial. Not to fear, however, because the federal judge, Sam Wilson, just “happened” to be the godfather of the two daughters of (surprise, surprise) John Brownlee, who just happens (surprise, surprise) to be the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. (Brownlee brought the case but did not try it himself.)

Before the trial, Wilson had indicated that the feds did not have a legitimate criminal case, but during the trial he simply denied the accused of putting on a defense. (It is too complicated for this blog space, but the whole thing was a sham.) His actions worked, and the men were convicted and served a couple years in federal prison.

Often, I feel like a voice in the wilderness, at least if one judges from the emails I receive from libertarians when I write about the courts. People whose names the readers would recognize tell me that they really don’t care about the law and simply are enjoying the scene of watching people they don’t like be indicted and go to prison. This is unfortunate, because if we do not stand up for what is right, there is no one left to do it.