Here are the latest links and some news about the lacrosse case. Mike Nifong, who has
refused to talk to local reporters, has given a large chunk of his schedule to
the New York Times. As we have seen before, Nifong likes to preen and bully,
like when he calls opponents chicken in the courtroom, or when he berates and
curses lawyers in the corridors, but when he is under fire, he shifts from
bullying to whining. The Times said that "Mr. Nifong said the defense
attack on the DNA report revealed a ruthless strategy aimed at vilifying him and
intimidating a victim of a brutal assault. 'The whole point was the vilification
of the district attorney, I believe,' he said during a three-hour interview in
his office on Thursday."
Well, not exactly. The point has been the corruption in the case, which
has certainly centered around Nifong. He is a public figure, and a
controversial one, and that will guarantee criticism.
The N&O says that "[i]n the New York Times story, Nifong
acknowledged that he should have turned that favorable evidence over to the
defense. And he said withholding that information was an oversight -- he thought
he had already turned it over.
"That was Nifong's third explanation why he did not turn over the
evidence. At the start of a court hearing Dec. 15, he told a judge that the
first he knew about the favorable evidence was two days earlier, when defense
lawyers filed a motion on the matter."
The N&O goes on to catalog Nifong's misrepresentations and problems with
the truth.
The Herald-Sun quotes Duke's James Coleman as saying "Actually,
what's happened is that he's sort of rearranging chairs on the deck. I
mean, his ship is going down."
We were just as interested to see a name pop up in a
different context: the deputy press secretary for Gov. Mike Easley is a
man named Seth Effron.
We worked with Seth for a number of years, and retain a
certain affection for him. He's an intelligent man, charming, devoted to his
family, mostly a good guy. Unfortunately, he may be temperamentally
unsuited to his current position.
His good qualities far outweigh his bad, but Seth has a
considerable temper. If you've ever seen the movie Jersey Girl, the scene
where Ben Affleck loses it - you could see Seth blowing up like that.
Putting up with questions from reporters who irritate him is not his
forte. Seth has a certain talent for (and relishes) irritating powerful
people. He'll be good at whatever he does, but kissing butt is just not
his thing.