You can’t really have a blog dedicated to criminal defense work and not mention the Duke “rape” case today. As everyone with a radio or television knows, the charges against these young men were dismissed today. There lives however have been changed forever. So has the life of the District Attorney that rode this case to his re-election. He now has the Bar Association to deal with and may get disbarred. The Attorney General would not rule out criminal charges against Nifong.
For those of you that would like a very thorough discussion of this case, check out this blog.
I hope this case helps the public understand how easy it is to get charged with a crime in this day and age. I hope the criminal defense bar will let this case inspire them to keep up the good fight.
I love this quote from one of the young men, Reade Seligmann,
“This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed. If it is possible for law enforcement officials to systematically railroad us with no evidence whatsoever, it is frightening to think what they could do to those who do not to have the resources to defend themselves. So rather than relying on disparaging stereotypes, or creating political and racial conflicts, we must all take a step back from this case and learn from it. This tragedy has revealed that our society has lost site of the core principle of our legal system, the presumption of innocence.”
Source: Rob Leonard