The Duke Case

RCP had a post today about the four possible results on the Duke rape case that is sure to be in the news for the next several months.

The options seem to be

Option 1: the woman is telling the truth and the players are convicted of rape and sent to prison
Option 2a: the woman is telling the truth and the players get off
Option 2b: the woman is lying and the players are exonerated
Option 3: the woman is lying and the players are convicted of rape and sent to prison

There are a couple of things that bother me about this issue.

First, why does Jesse Jackson need to poke his nose in everything? His comments were meant to be inflammatory and were. The goal here should be justice - if the boys are guilty of the crime they should be convicted. Jackson heated up his rhetoric right at the time that we should be trying to figure out what happened here. This is not primarily a race crime. But Jackson has tied it to that genre because of his statements. That will make everything else suspect by one or more groups watching it.

Second, I am bothered by the actions of the DA Mike Nifrong - who seems to be in electoral trouble. If he brought these charges to help his re-election, he violated his legal cannons of ethics and should be disbarred, as well as voted out of office. It is unclear why he thought this was necessary to bring charges so quickly and so seemingly before his election day. It could be that he has been able to turn the third potential defendent in this case - although the strong defense mounted by the entire team suggests otherwise. I look at the way some DAs work and believe that this could be a political prosecution. A telling point will be if he loses his race - what the steps after that might say a lot. The statement he issued after the indictment seems to suggest that he is rushing just a bit. He said -

"It had been my hope to be able to charge all three of the assailants at the same time, but the evidence available to me at this moment does not permit that. Investigation into the identity of the third assailant will continue in the hope that he can also be identified with certainty. It is important that we not only bring the assailants to justice, but also that we lift the cloud of suspicion from those team members who were not involved in the assault."

Third, would it be too much to ask tragedy TV to butt out? This is a serious case where the lives of either the accuser or the players will be ruined - wouldn't it be better to let the court system sort this one out. The lack of DNA evidence is suspicious but not dispositive. And there may indeed be other evidence that we do not know about. But the courts are designed to think this one out. I am already tired of supposed experts prattling about this or that theory. This is a delicate matter and should be handled that way for both sides. Duke's president made a good statement on these issues -

"Many lives have been touched by this case. It has brought pain and suffering to all involved, and it deeply challenges our ability to balance judgment with compassion. As the legal process unfolds, we must hope that it brings a speedy resolution and that the truth of the events is fully clarified."

FInally, there are the stereotypes - the rich frat club lacrosse players, the poor Black stripper college student. These charactures are undoubtedly far from reality on both sides. There have been a couple of good commentaries about the stereotypes in the case and how those help to disserve the legal issues. Perhaps the best was from
Joye Brown at Newsday. Stereotypes will not help society sort out the facts in the case and that is exactly what we should be trying to do. If option 1 is true - then the students should pay for their crime. But if one of the other options in this charged atmosphere comes about the results of this trial will not do anything to a) stop the intensity of the news blabbers that will eventually reduce our respect for the legal system, b) improve racial relations, c) encourage women who are actually assaulted to come forward with their allegations.