Call for Review of Duke's Faculty Response

Professor KC Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr, co-authors of Until Proven Innocent, have called for a review of the Faculty response in the Duke Lacrosse case. In a letter to the Chronicle they responded to recent criticism by Professor Coleman.

"It puzzles us that professors James Coleman and Prasad Kasibhatla used the occasion of criticism directed toward President Richard Brodhead's apology to condemn our work on the lacrosse case-since the only one of us to comment publicly on the remarks (KC Johnson) praised the president for "a powerful and emotional address, one that touched on several important points in an impressive fashion."

It equally puzzles us that the duo attacked our characterization of the Coleman Committee report. One or both of us have given similar characterizations of the report, in print, no fewer than 23 times since May 2, 2006. Never did Professor Coleman (with whom we have spoken or e-mailed on multiple occasions) challenge our description, much less in the harsh tone employed in the Chronicle letter. Since our book directly quotes from the report's section dealing with the lacrosse players' alcohol-related arrests, it seems peculiar to suggest we overlooked this point.

And while we are not surprised to receive criticism from defenders of the academic status quo, it seems unusual to portray a book with more than 1,000 sourcenotes as based on a "tragic rush to judgment" regarding faculty activists' behavior. Professors Coleman and Kasibhatla presented no specific evidence to support their claim, but we share their commitment that all facts, positive and negative, be revealed. Therefore, we invite them to join us in calling for a comprehensive review, modeled on the Coleman Committee's balanced and commendable investigation of the lacrosse team, of the faculty's response to the lacrosse case." Chronicle

KC Johnson
Co-author, "Until Proven Innocent""Durham-in-Wonderland" blog

Stuart Taylor
Co-author, "Until Proven Innocent"

Prosecutorial Misconduct in Light of the Duke Lacrosse Case

The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, a private public interest legal foundation initiated in 2003 by retired Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr, will host a Continuing Legal Education program entitled "Prosecutorial Misconduct in Light of the Duke Lacrosse Case" on June 27, 2007. Presenting faculty and speakers for the program include:

• Attorney Betty Tenn Lawrence;
• Duke University Professor of Law James Coleman;
• Duke University Professor of Law Michael Tigar;
• Attorney David Freedman; and
• NCCU Professor of Law Irving Joyner.

The three hour program (CLE credit: 2.75 hours applied for), which will be moderated by NCICL Executive Director Dean Webster, includes lunch and is open to attorneys for a cost of $25.oo. Non-attorneys may attend at a cost of $15.00 while students will pay $7.50 to participate.

Topics will include: Comments about the Duke case, and in the context of what is and should be the law for when government actors have framed an innocent person,

• Having a preliminary judicial determination of whether sufficient probable cause exists
• How much leeway does/should the District Attorney have
• Removal of the rogue DA - from a specific case; from office; by whom; when; how; and on what grounds
• Budgetary restraints on the rogue prosecution
• North Carolina and federal law on the civil and criminal liability of governmental wrongdoers

To register for the program, click here: NCICL CLE Registration.

Durham City Councilman Thomas Stith Calls For Nifong To Resign

From the Snooze Room:

Both City Councilman Thomas Stith and law professor James Coleman said Nifong should resign, and agreed that Durham police have some explaining to do.

Nifong's resignation "would be in his best interest and in the best interest of the community," Stith said. "We've talked about regrouping and healing and that would be a way to do it, for the district attorney to remove himself from office."

"How can you not [resign], after the attorney general has said that what you did was wholly without basis?" said Coleman, who led Duke University's investigation of the lacrosse team and early on called for Nifong to hand off the case to the attorney general's office.

...

Mayor Bill Bell said he thought people in Durham "are going to be accepting of" Cooper's decision "and will try to move forward."

...

"Bell wouldn't join Stith and Coleman in calling for Nifong's resignation. He said the State Bar's disciplinary process should be allowed to unfold.

"I have the same sentiment about this process that the DA is going through that the defendants were going through in this trial," Bell said. "People are presumed innocent. In Nifong's case, I'm satisfied to await the outcome of the process. He will be having his day in court before the bar."

The false accusations have "been unfortunate for the persons involved, [and] the families," Bell said. "I have a lot of empathy for that."