Newsweek: Maybe We Were a Little Hasty--Updated!On the
Duke lacrosse rape story.
The media coverage of the case has been enormous. NEWSWEEK put the mug shots of two of the players—Reade Seligmann, 20, and Collin Finnerty, 19—on its cover the week after they were indicted. Some early accounts raised doubts about the guilt of the players, but the story more typically played as a morality tale of pampered jocks gone wild. Lately, as more evidence from police or medical reports have been filed or cited in court documents by defense lawyers, the national and local media have been raising questions about Nifong's conduct of the case and his motivations.In fact, most of the bloggers covering the case, with the exception of the hardline feminista blogs, were very suspicious of the case by the time the indictments were handed down. I've more or less stopped covering the case because it seems like such a complete farce (and because the DA has said there would be no trial until 2007).
It appears that Nifong had not actually seen the medical reports when he talked to reporters on March 29 about "my reading of the report of the emergency-room nurse." The medical report was not turned over to the police for another week, on April 5. Rather, Nifong may have relied on what a police investigator had told him. The detective's notes claim that the sexual-assault nurse told him that "there were signs consistent with a sexual assault during her test."In fact, as noted earlier in the piece the only signs of sexual assault was swelling, which can happenen with ordinary sexual intercourse.
Wizbang notes that while the rape case may be collapsing per Newsweek, the case against the District Attorney is just beginning.
Update: Durham Republicans
to run candidate against Nifong.
Durham Republican County Chairman Steve Monks told ABC News that he will announce his intention to challenge Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong in a press conference at 4 p.m. ET today. Monks and Durham County Republicans acknowledged that the Duke rape investigation weighed heavily in their decision to field a GOP candidate in a traditionally Democratic county.More
excellent coverage of the Duke Lacrosse rape case. Thanks to commenter Betty Friedan for pointing this out.
