The broad public perception of what's happening in Durham has long since
turned against D.A. Mike Nifong, but in recent days, that trend has
accelerated.
On a national level, Saturday Night Live has commented on the case, with
"Nancy
Grace" discussing the case and Nifong, and Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez has said the
case may merit investigation by the Justice Department.
On a more local level,
former Herald-Sun editor Bob Wilson has publicly turned on his former employers.
On the blog site John In Carolina, Wilson says that the paper, and his
successor Bob Ashley, are "...trashing the canons of responsible
journalism.." and that "...[w]hatâs being done to those three young
men is so chilling and so perverted that Iâll no longer be a silent witness to
Mike Nifong's malicious, possibly criminal, disregard of justice and The
Herald-Sun's cheerleading for him."
And in a most interesting bit of research,
KC Johnson has turned up a previous Durham gang rape allegation which found
four men kidnapping a woman from Woodcroft Shopping Center, taking her down 751,
and raping her, before taking her back to the shopping center.
The prosecutor in this case followed the norm, not commenting on the case
publicly, and immediately arrested the four implicated men.
Unfortunately, they lost track of the alleged victim, and when they looked
more closely, found the charges to be unfounded. The charges were dropped
and the men released.
The kicker? The prosecutor was Nifong.