I am not sure that I have ever encountered a district attorney who wasn’t an Arrogant Jerk, but at least for this month, District Attorney Mike Nifong will take the honors. Nice work Mike; you are an Arrogant Jerk.
Let’s start at the beginning: Rewind to March 13, 2006 when the Duke University Lacrosse team had a party and hired two women to dance for their entertainment. Although left extremely unclear in the news, it appears that the women left the party somewhat upset, although over what has been in dispute.
Of the two women, one appears to have accused members of the team of rape. The other woman has never supported the story. It is likely that she couldn’t even if she wanted to: the accuser’s story has changed so many times even local press hounds cannot keep track.
Coming to light recently, the case has apparently been in the toilet from the beginning. DNA reports produced early in the case indicated that the accuser did in fact have semen from two or more men on her, however that it did not match ANY of the Duke lacrosse players.
Other problems have come to light, as well. For instance, against normal procedure, the ONLY men presented to the accuser in a line up were Duke players. This means that she could have randomly selected anyone from the lineup and not missed someone who was at the party. Normal procedure calls for the inclusion of known decoys to ensure that the accuser is selecting accurately.
Word has it that she selected one player, and then later changed her mind. No red flags here Mr. District Attorney?
The accused players all have reasonable alibis, including bank statements, ATM camera recordings, and a complete lack of a DNA link. Interestingly, it appears that Mike Nifong knew all of this very early. So why continue with the case?
It looks like Mike chose to maintain this sensational case to keep himself in the limelight as he was running for re-election. Standing on the backs of the bruised is a hallmark of Arrogant Jerks, and Mike takes the cake. Using innocent students at freedom’s expense to continue your own political aspirations takes a serious helping of Arrogance. Way to go, Mike, you are an Arrogant Jerk.
Today, headlines are shouting about how Nifong has been removed from the case. He has orchestrated this move himself, probably using time over the past several months to plot and plan a ‘best-case’ exit strategy.
He probably won’t be entirely off the hook. I know I would want to give him a dose of Jack Bauer if he pulled this kind of cheap shot at my kid, which is just what may be happening. Today a mother of one of the accused stated: “You’ve picked on the wrong family; you will pay every day for the rest of your life.”
I hope she is right. Mistakes can be made, but it looks like this guy did this on purpose.
