The STUP Award

Durham County North Carolina

Prosecutor Mike Nifong

 

CSW 07-12

"tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations."

"This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor."

"caution would have served justice better than bravado"

"the eyewitness identification procedures were unreliable, no DNA supported the woman's story, no other witness corroborated it, and the woman contradicted herself."

A "rogue" prosecutor (referring to Nifong)

The above excerpts were from the exoneration press conference given by State Attorney General of North Carolina, Roy Cooper. The press conference was a scathing critique of the incompetence and possibly criminal behavior of Mr. Nifong, the prosecuting attorney of three Duke University student athletes. The lives of the three young students were put back on track Thursday, 4/12/07, when the state's Attorney General found the boys innocent of all charges which included rape and kidnapping.

A bunch of people must answer for this racially charged rush to judgment. The Black community had these boys tarred and feathered a day after the alleged rape took place. The New Black Panthers' demented, misguided leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, a Washington lawyer, refuses to apologize to this day for making racist and prejudiced remarks against the students. The faculty and staff of Duke have dirty hands, too, as do some politicians hoping to take up "a cause" to further their careers.

But it's Nifong who has the spotlight for now. Congrats STUP Nifong.