The Fluffer That Wasn't

In today’s much anticipated Fong Fluffer that wasn’t, Ben Niolet of the News and Observer offers a front page article entitled, “At Center of Duke lacrosse case, a stormy DA who likes to fight.” Mr. Niolet’s article examines the man behind the hoax and while he does offer some words of appreciation for Mr. Nifong, he also enlightens us as to the mood swings, gamesmanship and lack of substance that characterize the menace to justice and his current obsession.

Most notably, Mr. Niolet confirms that the Hijacker of the Hoax has never spoken directly to the accuser about what she alleges transpired that evening.

“He was so confident in the accuser's story and his case that he refused to meet with lawyers who said they could prove players' innocence....Although Nifong has never heard the woman tell her story, he believes her.”

As incredible as this may seem, we now have confirmation the Mr. Nifong’s theories, which have ranged from long sleeves to condoms to date rape drugs to a five minute attack, have not come from the words or statements of the accuser but rather from the menace himself.

“Although Nifong has never heard the woman tell her story, he believes her.”

This fascinating revelation also makes it clear that he was indeed ducking Dan Abrams direct questioning on this matter when Mr. Nifong attempted to put forth the condom theory in the face of evidence to the contrary.

NIFONG: For instance, if a condom were used, then we might expect that there would not be any DNA evidence recovered from say a vaginal swab.

ABRAMS: But she would have told you, would she have not?

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: I mean you've spoken to her. She would have said either they used condoms or they didn't.

NIFONG: Well, if you are being forced to have sex against your will, you may not necessarily notice whether or not somebody behind you is using a condom. This was not a consensual sex situation. This was a struggle, wherein she was struggling just to be able to breathe. So I'm not sure that she would really have much way of knowing whether a condom was being used. MSNBC

“Although Nifong has never heard the woman tell her story, he believes her.”

Without ever hearing the woman tell her story, Mr. Nifong has insisted that he is convinced a rape occurred. Without ever hearing the woman tell her story, he puts forth theories and hopes for evidence. Without ever hearing the woman tell her story he pretends that her story has credence. One can only wonder how he can find her credible without ever hearing from her what she alleges happened. Her written statement to police was not given until April 6 and offers countless contradictions to other statements and evidence, yet he believes her. Without ever hearing the woman tell her story and nine days prior to her only written account of the evening, Mr. Nifong declared his certainty on March 27 that a rape occurred.

Despite mountains of evidence that contradict her continually conflicting statements, Mr. Nifong believes her without even bothering to hear her tell him directly what she claims is to have occurred. In May, Professor Robinson Everrett encouraged Mr. Nifong to give the accuser a lie detector test. It appears know that not only was Mr. Nifong not willing to confirm the veracity of her words in this manner, he was not even willing to hear her story himself.

Somehow, he expects that we are to trust that he believes her and yet he has not even heard her story firsthand himself, once, ever. One would wonder on what basis does he believe her.

Among other highlights to the Fluffer that wasn’t:

• "Working with Mike, you never knew from one day or the other who you'd be dealing with," said Glenn Gray, a lawyer who handled a high volume of traffic cases. "He would curse you, scream at you, call you names over nothing."
• "I have seen him lose his temper and berate attorneys in an unprofessional manner," Holmes said.
• Gray knew that lawyers on the other side of the door could hear the tirade. He had heard similar outbursts, sometimes profanity-laced, when other lawyers were in Nifong's office.
• Behind the scenes, Nifong had staked out an unusual role as the leader of an investigation that had yet to even identify suspects. Typically, police investigate cases and turn them over to prosecutors. On March 31, Nifong sat with the two main Durham police detectives on the case. The accuser was having trouble identifying her attackers. According to notes taken by Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, Nifong suggested that the officers have the accuser look at pictures of 46 team members to see whether she remembered seeing them at the party. The lineup procedure Nifong suggested violated the police department's guidelines, which call for photo lineups to include at least five nonsuspects for every suspect. The guidelines also call for an independent administrator to conduct the lineup, not an investigator in the case.
• Nifong bickered and squabbled with the lawyers. After lawyer Kirk Osborn asked a judge to remove Nifong from the case, Nifong said, "If I were him, I wouldn't want to be trying the case against me either. ... The best comment I ever heard about Kirk was he was the best-dressed public defender in North Carolina."
• Nifong stormed out of his office, blowing past the reporters in the hallway. He marched to the judges' chambers, where he bumped into one of Evans' attorneys. He lit into the lawyer, his voice carrying across the sixth floor. He made liberal use of profanity, including the word "mother[expletive]."