Johnnie Cochran is dead. And so is the lying stripper's chance to cash in.

Tawana 2 is a lying, drug-addled prostitute. She should be the one on trial here, and Nifong should be disbarred for crucifying these young men for political gain.

In this country, one is innocent until proven guilty. So i will therefore give the benefit of the doubt to the boys until, like you said, evidence is presented. This case has been handled wrong from the start...it's no wonder it finally is beginning to fall apart.

kant we just all get along???

I normally despise civil suits and the lawyers who file them, but I hope the three lacrosse players sue the pants off the DA's office, the Durham police, the lab who apparently hid DNA evidence and the stripper. I hope they win, and I hope they win BIG. These poor guys were Sacco and Vanzetti'd.

Where is the justice for the boys - the true victims? Their lives were turned upside-down by the accuser. Their lives will take a long time to recover from this.

And where are the leaders of the black community? The ones who were so quick to support her? Given the current state of race relations in this country, it would certainly help to see Jesse Jackson & others rallying around the victimized (white) boys. How can we hope for equality when you only support people of your own race?

This case overall was strictly about the overwhelming power women wield in this society, ask any father who has gone thru a divorce especially in New York or California its just like what these kids went thru, but they label it divorce not rape. Until we become civilized enough, and we have a long,long way to go, and start holding judges and prosecuters accountable for their conduct, lets take their house for all those lousey decisions, we will continue to have the travesty of justice we call the legal system repeat itself over and over again.

Excellent point, mcewen! Men have NO POWER when it is a male vs female issue.

"...all of the three defendants. For them, Christmas came a few days early."

Christmas present. How about the truth starting to come out?

It is a shame it ever got to this point. I hope it is long from over for the accuser and Nifong. We want answers!

Where all the leadership of the minority community that was so quick to condemn these 3 young men - certainly they where fairly stupid to hire the dancers - but last time I checked, stupidity isn't a crime.

Where are the condemnations of the woman who made these patently false charges - and the condemnation of the DA who brought charges for his own political gain?

Where are all the feminists, resdients, activists, Duke adminsitrators and professors today? Why aren't they out in the streets proclaiming justice for all and celebrating our democracy?

If you go the URL at the bottom of this post, you can share in the letter addressed to Mr. Ron Landfried, editorial page editor Durham Herald-Sun, which is posted on one of the Poynter Institute's message boards. If you are unfamiliar with the Institute, go to the site's home page from the address below. The Institute is the premiere organization for professional journalists. Because of the way the posts arranged themselves, you will first scroll past one other post and then reach part 5 of the letter -- part 1 will be four posts beneath part 5 -- because of sequentially loading the parts going up the page. It took that many posts because in addition to the letter, I reposted the op-ed column sent to Mr. Landfried back in April comparing this to the Scottsboro Boys, and predicting that before it is all over, Mr. Nifong will end up prosecuted for his criminal handling of this case. I see the president on Duke is now talking about the need to pull the plug on Nifong, and a member of Congress from North Carolina is also asking for the Justice Department to intervene. Finally, as for Mr. Cohen of the Post, I say to you that your desire to drag this out when it was obvious from the beginning that no charges be filed until the evidence demanded they be filed, puts you in the same league as those whose racial passions brought these charges in the first place. In America, Mr. Cohen, you don't destroy a person's life before you get around to interviewing the alleged victim, as Mr. Nifong's staff did yesterday - for the first time ever. The only reason the other charges still stand is because of the racist demands of Durham's so-called civil rights leaders to continue a racist prosecution in order to build up their stature in the community. That, Mr. Cohen, puts you in the same league as those who pressed for charges against the Scottsboro Boys. --- poynter.org/article_feedback/article_feedback_list.asp?id=14474

What makes you think the legal system is any different anywhere else in the country.

The only reason you hear of this case is the class and power of the defendants and the University.

This goes on daily in every jurisdiction in America.

Under funded, poorly paid, detectives are like salesmen, if you do not close cases no job.

Do not include any contradicting piece of evidence that does not say guilty. DNA is not "found" or hidden in this case. The prosecutor pretends what is handed to him is everything.

Pray to God for you and you kids for you may sacrifice for the myth of "Justice." These people are worse than any real criminal they luckily may find and prosecutor persecute.

"For beleagured prosecutor Michael Nifong, however, never mind Christmas."

Huh? Nifong is "Beleagured"? No.... Try "Clueless." Nifong is a pandering, power-mad, pimp prosecutor, and evidently a professional incompetent. Plus, his ethical compass is non-existent. He would have fit in well as a camp commandant in the Soviet GULAG system.

Nifong has held up the American criminal justice system for all the world to see, as an utter joke. Nifong is a disgrace to the legal profession. Nifong should be sanctioned by the Supreme Court of North Calroina, and disbarred. I hope that some legal scholar is researching the "abuse of process" elements of what he has done, in addition to a civil-rights case against him personally and his government paymasters who put up with his antics.

The three Duke kids are not just "not guilty," they are truly innocent. The kids are clearly being railroaded by Nifong, who is on his own psychotic crusade based on some weird inner issue. (Hmmm... what is with the "rape" fixation, Mr. DA??)

But even worse, if it can be worse, Nifong has also, over the past six months or so, made it infinitely harder for "real" innocent people to get off. That is, Nifong has disparaged the lack of DNA evidence as not being important to his crusade to hang a few white boys out to dry for the masses in the Arena, er Durham. So it calls into question the "Innocence Project" kind of work to exonerate people who are convicted sans DNA. In this respect, Nifong has created a climate in which other people will suffer. What a loser. What a jerk. What a legal pervert. What a piece of scum in a suit.

Strong letter to follow.

I read the comments and the news articles and simply can't believe this "case" continues to go forward, on any level. How pathetic for the people of Durham that they let this incompetent and dangerous man continue as their district attorney. I am mystified as to how anybody could continue to say "wait for the facts to come out". What additional facts? Another few changes in her story? Meanwhile, these three boys' lives are on hold. They can't go back to school (or they have lost job opportunities). They are forever branded by these false and pathetic accusations.

Some day there must be justice. And I mean mostly for the idiots and incompetents who have brought this case this far and allowed it to continue.

I'd love to hear Colbert "I" King, Eugene Robinson, and/or Michael Wilbon put their spin on this in one of their columns next week

Rapes can be horribly difficult to prove under the best of legal circumstances. And a gang rape is such a heinous event that any remotely plausible allegation ought to be properly investigated. So I would normally applaud a cautious methodical prosecutor going up against a slew of top-shelf lawyers for an impoverished victim. But the victim "shoe" seems to have changed feet: I have to agree that this case seems to have been mishandled *spectacularly*. The fact that it has gone on THIS long and still remains unresolved is truly appalling.

I remember Tawana Brawley, sadly. And this sure feels like deja vu all over again....

I have to join a chorus of others asking what additional evidence? This has been reduced to the accuser's word against the accused. So let us consider the value of her word. Please excuse any uncomfortable allusions below.

Certainly the most telling line in the withdrawal of charges is this: she is no longer sure that "a penis was the body part that penetrated her vagina." Note that she continues to claim she was penetrated by a body part, and not some object. As this is her claim, let us ask a serious question: which body part would she, a woman of great sexual experience, confuse with a penis?

Let us seriously imagine this cross examination. If the prosecution maintains that she was penetrated by a body part, and I assume that phrase has legal significance referring to a human body part attached to one of the live humans accused, what body part on these males would a woman who clearly sells sexual services confuse with the penis? A foot? A hand? A finger? A nose? A tongue? That exhausts my imagination. And each has characteristic sensations of use different from a penis.

Now then, let us take another tack and consider the possibility that it was an object that resembles a body part. I guess then she would have said that she was penetrated by an object, not a body part. Presumably, again, a woman of her experience can distinguish a body part from an inanimate object.

And if the prosecution changes the story to that, then I would guess they better produce that object. It would have to have been found in the house, it would have to have her DNA on it. If they have such an object and have not produced it, they are withholding evidence, and the charge as reported is incorrect. If they don't have such an object, then it is her word against theirs.

Talk about witness confusion. Who is going to believe this woman?

So one of two things needs to happen now. Either the prosecution must change the sexual assault charge and identify the object or the prosecution must drop the case and be subject to sanctions.

If Mr. Nifong is having a bad Christmas I am sure he will look back fondly on it Christmas next. Justice will be meted out on this man who has now changed places with the men he accused.

Finally there is something much worse afoot here. It is the perversion and corruption of our judicial system, whose origin is at the core of our culture and our legal education. From a cultural perspective our criminal system is sloppy and inefficient. On the one hand our standards of proof are over exacting, and on the other hand we are too quick to leap to conclusions based on significant bias without that evidence and to hide the truth procedurally in order to get a result that matches our bias. And our legal education emphasizes social justice over individual justice. Here a criminal case against innocents was forged as a moral lesson in racial and sexual power disparity. And that is simply an injustice.

In the case of these boys, that has resulted in a personal ordeal and an unjust infamy they will never completely escape. They were singled out for the cultural crime of being white, randy, partying males. In the case of terrorism, many may be over emphasizing the innocence of those held in a bias again the current, failing administration. And that may result in tragedy and death to thousands of innocent Americans.

Accuser's character notwithstanding, the only thing I can accuse Nifong of is press conferences. His is an elected office and he (thought he) needed to spell out what was going on to all the media. And certainly the country lapped it up. "The Duke Lacrosse Case"

Without the press -- and all of us watching -- the police and prosecutors were faced with a young black woman who told them she had been assaulted. Either Nifong and crew ignores this (which leads to the racist world we used to live in) or he investigates it. If he investigates her claims and the claims are wrong, the case falls apart and the boys go free. Justice isn't dead, justice has prevailed!

The real criminals are all of us who have "crucified" the boys. No press, no watchers, and the boys are back in school living their lives.

Some say that Nifong trumped up this case against the partying Dukies to teach them a lesson--to exhibit his power--because some friends of his, living in the neighborhood were tired of noise and littering at the house on Buchanan. The case has been deliberately plotted out to keep their nerves on edge as punishment, though the intention always was to drop the case before it went to trial. Could it be a prosecutor could be so Machiavellian? A prosecutor may have too much power.

This case is over. Nifong will go up on ethics charges, the accuser will vanish into the wastebasket of history, and unfortunately, these three boys will be tarred for life.

The mainstream media rushed to judge this case. Go back and read some of the early editorials in The New York Times and Washington Post. They are appalling.

Many of the comments above mine tell a very convincing, legally reasoned argument about the problems with Nifong's actions. He compounded his initial mistake of prosecutorial error by taking on boys whose families hail from greater Washington, D.C., and New York, who can pretty much rip an incompetent to shreds. Good points about the initial editorials too -- people should pay attention to the media misdeeds in this case.

"Poor boys"!!

Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?

They can have a congressman, the governor or even the president involved, but the poor kids will have an enjoyable day in court in early February.

And, for the records, I still believe that they are innocent until proven guilty unlike some people here who have already concluded the alleged victim is guilty.

No white bigot would want sexual contact with the unclean black woman.

Why is this lying $lut afraid to come forward publicly, and tell her story to America? Why do you say these young men are bigots? Because they're white? Black people are as crazy and off-base on this case as they were on OJ.

The average negro IQ score is 85. Not very intelligent. This explains a lot about their Perspective.

Isn't it about time to reconsider the logic that allows any woman to accuse any man of rape then disappear into anonymity while he is subject to public scorn and condemnation? He is instantly on trial while her motives, background, and credibility go unquestioned. If rape is a crime of violence, then why should the alleged rape "victim" be shielded any more than any victim of aggravated assault?

Isn't it about time that false allegations of rape carry the same penalties as rape itself? Obviously a charge of false rape would be subject to the same rules of evidence and trial as rape but shouldn't it be on the books?

Oh, I see you just want to ignore the troubling fact that during the decades of slavery, the number of mixed (black and white) babies was at an all time high.....
But this inconvenient truth was easily dealt with:
"50% white, 50% black == 100% black"

You should go back to your history book and review the record on Jefferson for example!!!

But let us go back to the MAIN POINT:

Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?

This is my last point (because despite my "alleged" IQ of 85, I can see that I am wasting my time):

Recall the Kobe Bryant case. The similarities are striking:

An alleged victim with multiple sexual partners, a confusing story, the rape charge and even the same national coverage... Granted Kobe admitted having sex with the alleged victim, but in the present case too, the bigots admitted booking the call girls and thanking the grandparents for "the cotton shirt"!

Now, take a deep breadth before answering the following:
How many congressmen did you see intervene in the Kobe case and was the case dropped before going to court?

Kobe had an enjoyable day in court and he successfully faced the charges against him.

So let us go back to the MAIN POINT:

Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?

"Games the same" appears to be right on point. Nightmares like the Duke case go on every day across the USA in our criminal justice system. Unfortunately, unlike the potential favorable outcome for the boys in this case, many pay for the overreaching
of prosecutors by spending substantial portions of their lives behind bars. If Neifong deliberately withheld DNA evidence from the Defense, he to should be "jailed".

Perspective says:
"Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?"

My response:
From what I have read there are a lot of people like you in Durham that could find their way on the jury.

As far as Cohen's article: The accuser in her ID session identifies 4 of her 3 attackers. (From the ID video one of the people she said looked like a person who assaulted her was ignored by the police for some reason.) She then identified the 3 accused and in graphic detail described how they attacked her. The forcible rape charge only covers vaginal penetration. The charges of oral and anal sex are covered by the sexual assault charge. Her credibility in the photo ID session where she states points to Reade's picture and says he forced her to perform oral sex and ejaculated is damaged by the lack of DNA evidence. The semen fractions found in the oral DNA swab do not belong to any Lacrosse players. She is still going to have to explain these inconsistencies in the Feb 5 ID motion session. This means she will be on a stand in front of the judge (not a jury) and have to explain herself. It's not going to be pretty.

Perspective wrote:

"So let us go back to the MAIN POINT:Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?"

Actually, Perspective, these boys are not afraid to go to Court. They've petitioned the court for a speedy trial and the Durham D.A. argued against that saying they will not be afforded any special priveleges in this case.

Comparing this to the Kobe thing is patently unfair. Kobe admitted to having sex with that girl in Vail.

The indicted Duke students have maintained their innocence from day 1. They did absolutely nothing wrong (from a legal standpoint) in hiring a stripper. It happens every day in college and university towns across the country.

I believe there are two main points:

1.) Why did it take the Durham D.A. 9 months to interview the victim?

2.) Why does the "leadership" in the black community sit back and watch race relations take two steps backwards? For this country to heal -- and in order to protect current and future victims of real rapes -- somebody with standing in and amoung the black community at large will need to step up and disown these false allegations. An overwhelming majority of white America was horrified by these allegations and equally horrified as the case unraveled with nary a peep from those who were so quick to jump to her defense.

The real victims: the two (soon to be three) children this unstable 28 year-old college student/dancer/false accuser has brought into this world.

I hope everybody has a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and a safe Kwanzaa!

"Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?"

Why are you so quick to judge the 3 accused kids as bigots? Apparently a kid at the party made some obnoxious comment about cotton-picking, but it wasn't any of the accused. Apparently you believe in guilt by association, and in punishing them as an example whether they are guilty or not.

These kids were well on their way to a lynching because a dishonest, ambitious, and race-baiting prosecutor believed the baseless accusations of a drug-addled prostitute.

I don't see any real lawyer feedback here, so here I go. A prosecutor is not a reporter. He or she has a duty to uphold justice and public respect for the law and the legal process. Laughable as it may seem to the nonlawyer, prosecutors actually have a duty to pursue all evidentiary leads and be strictly impartial. Most prosecutors without an agenda (i.e., in Nifong's case getting elected) do not conduct themselves the way Nifong did from the start. When this case first broke I was absolutely shocked to see this guy standing on the courthouse steps reciting what he thought the facts of the case were and other factual details which not only later turned out to be untrue but were completely inappropriate for him to comment on publicly outside of a courtroom or through court filings. Then there was the show [or more properly campaign appearance] he put on at the black college where the accuser was enrolled part time. All totally inappropriate. The model of prosecutorial conduct vis a vis the press is Patrick Fitzgerald. No contact or information to press except in short speaches announcing charges or in court filings.

Legally, these boys can't sue Nifong or the city of Durham, but maybe there are others they can go after (victim is probably penniless). I am not an expert in this area but I remember that the guy who was wrongfully accused of trying to bomb the Atlanta olympics got something from someone. Anyway, Nifong's a disgrace, so keep your eyes on Patrick Fitzgerald to see how a competent professional prosecutor handles contact with the press. Aside from the public pronouncements there are of course other things Nifong did and didn't do which would call for some sort of disciplinary action taken against him. I just wanted to focus on his publicly "choosing sides" and make sure that people know that this is not standard operating procedure.

"I've Smelled a Rat from Day 1" asked:

1.) Why did it take the Durham D.A. 9 months to interview the victim?

According to news accounts the DA, Nifong, has never interviewed the accusing woman about the rape and the incidents around it. He has only talked with her in interviews on other subjects to gage her honesty. His assistants have interviewed the alleging victim, and it was they who came forth with the news that she was not sure of the insrument of penetration.

As far the rest of you, this entire thread has devolved to an embarrasing and frightening racist level, Andrew would do well remove all of these racist responses.

However I will agree with one point, that there is no evidence that these men were racial bigots. In the case of Colin Fennerty there is the ugly incident in Georgetown to suggest other bigotries, but regardless these are not criminal activites. There is no longer a law in America against calling people horrible names; the so-called "fighting words" standard having long since been lost to our uncivil language and behavior.

There should be a special place in hell for people like Nifong. People who abuse their office for personal gain - like charging someone on almost non-existent "evidence" just to whip up the black community and score votes - impact far more people than the three defendants and their families.

This man is an absolute disgrace. He deserves to be disbarred - for openers.

In a typical year, the number of white women raped by black men is in the thousands. In a typical year, the number of black women raped by white men is zero.

This doesn't change the facts of the case, but it damn well offers some perspective.

I second Constitutionalist's plea above: Please, person-in-charge-of-blogs,remove all the above racist comments. It's disgusting to have to read them, and they ruin what could be an intelligent discussion about the politicization of the judicial system.

Perspective says: "Why are all these spoilt bigots (aka poor boys according to all the previous posts) so afraid to go to court to confront the evidence against them, instead of putting pressure on the prosecutor to drop the case?"

Ditto all the other responses to this statement, so I have very little to add [UPDATE: Never mind that last comment, given the length of this post]. I would just point out that we all have a presumption of innocence under the Constitution. No one should have to get as far as a trial on the basis of a mere accusation, no matter how credible the accuser. An accusation is often sufficient to establish "probable cause" for an arrest or indictment, but a prosecutor must (or at least should) have other evidence in order to proceed to a trial. I am sure the lacrosse defendants are more anxious than anyone to clear their names in a public forum (and I believe they are actually innocent and not just "not guilty"), but no matter how strong their case, there is always a risk in taking it to a jury. It appears this risk is even greater in Durham. I think Nifong knows he has no case but wants to get it in front of a jury knowing the probablilty is high for reverse jury nullification -- a guilty verdict in the face of no evidence pointing to guilt.

I am disgusted by all of the racist comments on this thread, and I want to make that clear before pointing out the following: Based on numerous mainstream media and blog accounts I have read over the last few months (even the last few days), there is an element in Durham (not only within a segment of the African-American community but the politically correct left including many Duke professors) that will say or believe anything - *anything* - no matter how outlandish, as long as it runs against the defendants. For example, no DNA match? That means Duke University Hospital (who treated the accuser) removed the players' DNA (and not DNA from the 5-6 others). Some jacka** lax player who is not one of the defendants made the "cotton shirt" comment or used the n-word? Punish the defendants for those sins - they're racists too you know. Defendants aren't really guilty? Who cares, it's payback for the past, and oh yeah, it's their fault for drinking beer and hiring strippers in the first place. People who think this way shouldn't serve on this or any jury, but it may be impossible to avoid them in Durham.

On some level, I can appreciate the anger and frustration minorities feel about the attention given to this case because traditionally, they are the ones who have been railroaded by corrupt prosecutions. But I have never understood why Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, NAACP and others (including the ACLU), who supposedly stand for civil rights and are fully aware of the history of innocent blacks being convicted by white southern juries, are willing to "let the system work" in the Duke case in the face of so much exculpatory evidence and obvious prosecutorial misconduct. I don't need to point out that these same people would take an entirely different attitude toward African-American defendants in the same position under the same set of facts. Maybe the motives of these civil rights luminaries aren't so noble after all. They don't seem to care that if Nifong can do this to white "priveleged" young men with expensive lawyers, he can, will, and probably does do it to blacks. The goal of anyone who truly cares about civil rights should be to guarantee a fair and constitutional process for everyone, not just a preferred group. Revenge and payback have no place in the equation.

One more thing: To those who say that these white defendants are getting special treatment, more attention to their plight by the media, politicians, etc. than black defendants who deal with this sort of thing every day, I want you to know, for what it's worth, that this case has taught me (a white Republican corporate lawyer in Dallas with a relatively sheltered private school upbringing) a few important lessons I won't forget. First, we all hear about prosecutorial misconduct now and then but the Duke case somehow brings it home that any of us could be the victim of a dishonest accuser or corrupt and ambitious DA or US attorney. If Nifong is conducting himself in this way under the public eye in the Duke case, what does he do when no one is looking? How many such cases are tried every day against innocent defendants who can't afford top-notch counsel? How often do police and prosecutors hide or ignore evidence that would help the defense? How many DAs and federal prosecutors care more about obtaining convictions and plea bargains than seeing justice done? More that we will ever know about, I'm afraid. This must change. Second, and on a related note, I have to wonder how accurately the media reports on the criminal justice system, especially when allegations are first made. Even assuming a reporter has the best of intentions, often the story comes only from law enforcement and prosecution sources, so the information passed along to the public is likely to be inaccurate or incomplete (looking back, we now know Nifong's 50+ interviews in March and April were misleading or false in many respects). After the lacrosse case comes to its inevitable and appropriate end, many more of us will turn a skeptical eye to prosecutors and police and the reporters who repeat their allegations, knowing that there may be much more to the story.

Merry Christmas all!

This case shows the awesome power of the state when coming after someone and the need to elect people of conscience to weild it!

This case is a gross abuse of prosecutorial discression only brought to indictment to pander for black votes.

These 3 young men are having their lives RUINED!

It is IMPERATIVE that the remainder of these charges get dismissed.

The biggest thing they must fear is a black OJ - like jury which will convict just to "get whitey".

Sorry if this is politically incorrect but try trying a black man in the Bronx.... black juries will believe just about anything...

I am so sorry, but this case will always have some sort of sour patina attatched to it whenever I think back to it. Moreso with Nancy Grace and FOX News, but here is why with the former. I am also upset with the Peterson case that I feel has an inlay to this one.

I feel this case did indeed ruin the boys' lives and that they did not touch that girl and that she was making it up, attacking easy targets (guys at a party). When I saw them deffend themselves, whil lots of sane perpetrators go through the routine of "I did not do it" in sorrow, there is an added hint of anger deep inside what they have stated. Almost as if they did not do it and that they have no possible ploy to rectify their good name again.

Those that meet them will sill always be suspicious of them. Not necessarily for the case but for the media circus that was attached to it. FOX and Nancy Grace just went overboard with this whole case. They talked about this way too much. Even though this case was a story of intriguing twists and turns, we as a society and for the good of everyone involved should not talk at these lengths of the trial. It is too embaressing and shows no restraint or class. Those that used this case to balance their newscasts should be ashamed of themselves. They added nationwide attention to something so much sufferance, so much privacy needed, so unmentionable I can not believe how low those that abused this case have went --- regaurdless of who did the crime.

As for the "inlay" of the Peterson case. I always say that they can not convict Scott Peterson, period. There is no evidence that he did what the punishment forces him to go through. --- Although, since we already have formulated an insipid, gut-feeling based verdict that makes Scott Peterson guilty because we do not have enough evidence, why don't we just have a gut-feeling based verdict for this little evidence crime as well? Let the men go. See my paragraph two. The way they speak with the equivalant that deep tone of resent for why they were fingered for no reason speaks a world to me, and is kind-of the speach equivalant tothe Peterson case.

The reason that we do not is probably because it leans to the perpetrators getting let go, not the victim being fingered for lying. Of course that is a no-no. The victim is never supposed to be wrong, unless the said perpetrator is really famous.

The system is definately broken, in some way, on this issue of fair justice. I think the reason for that is we just do not have enough patience, hether that patiance is societal or based on the evidence deteriorating. Those that look the most guilty are always looked at in a different light, subconsciously. I like it when the judge takes the place of the jury. The judge has a "been here, done that" kind of attitude that adds to the solidarity. It is definately more professional than a bunch of people who ... oh, let us just say snicker and laugh to themselves once the trial ended. It is just too sad to think about.
-Best Wishes
Oh, to have a Blog(Person of the Year 2006)

This is the 21st Century! How can anyone honestly say, think, or feel so much rage against an entire race and/or an entire gender? Please delete the inane rants of the "poor, powerless white men" (I'm assuming) who feel so betrayed by the blacks and the women, to whom they mistakenly ascribe absurd amounts of power. There is no one of color nor any female who could claim that he or she controls this country!

Please delete the sexist, racist commentary.