Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Editorial Duke lacrosse case a disgraceful moment in U.S. jurisprudence
Portland Press Herald Friday, April 13, 2007

It had all the elements of a quintessential American tragedy.
A young, black exotic dancer, victimized by three white youths at an elite southern university. Power and privilege. Sex and race.
It was the biggest story for weeks. The prosecutor rode it as a campaign issue. Except that the story was a textbook case of injustice masquerading under the color of law.
North Carolina's top prosecutor dropped all charges against the former Duke lacrosse players Wednesday. The three men, he said, were victims of a "tragic rush to accuse" by a district attorney who faces disbarment as a result of his mishandling of the case.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong is accused of withholding evidence, lying to a court and making inflammatory statements about the players. But Nifong was abetted by a gullible tabloid media culture that dismisses objectivity as a quaint notion of a bygone era.
The coverage was numbing. Duke was named in 33,000 stories the month after charges became public.
One of the vindicated young men said the case opened his eyes to how easily an innocent person can be railroaded in America. Were it not for a multi-million-dollar legal defense campaign mounted by the young men's families, the truth might not have come to light.
It's beyond flip to say that, in the end, the system worked. The system didn't work.
For the young men and their families, this was 13 months trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare. For Duke, it was a stain that will never be erased.
Innocent until proven guilty: It used to be the hallmark of American justice.


Reader comments

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Jack Linnell of New Gloucester, ME
Apr 13, 2007 8:08 AM
Beyond the villanous behavior of Nifong, you had the disgraceful coverage of the New York Times, the race baiting of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, the assumption of guilt by 88 Duke professors who started their own lynch mob and the overblown and often highly slanted coverage of the media in general, all of which seems to have escaped the notice of the writer of this editorial, except to note in passing that this was the subject of 33,000 stories the month after the story broke.

Nifong will receive justice and be called to account for his conduct. The rest, it appears, will get a pass and that is equally disgraceful.report abuse
Darren McLellan of Cape ELizabeth, ME
Apr 13, 2007 8:09 AM
How does this have any bearing on life in Maine?!!!!!!!
I am sooo tired of the story of a bunch of drunken frat boys having sex with a stripper who then lies about it.
WHO REALLY GIVES A HOOT PPH?!!! TELL US WHAT IS HEPPENING MAINE PLEASE!!!!report abuse
Al Libby of phillips, ME
Apr 13, 2007 8:54 AM
It's good that the charges were dropped. It's stupid to think that the word of a black stripper means more than a few white university students. She was probably looking for a free pass in life. Who knows? Maybe she resented them they were kids of rich parents who were going to a good school while she took her clothes off for a dollar. It should have been filed under the frivalous lawsuit act.report abuse
Neocon2008 of Freeport, ME
Apr 13, 2007 9:25 AM

Another pair of powerful players in this sad drama are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who so focused the media attention with their relentless and evil race-baiting that these kids could've been wrongly convicted and spent a good part of their lives in prison.

Where is their apology?

Don't hold your breath. I'm sure they figure that the kids are guilty, and guilty because they're white.

Who's the racist? Who keeps the wounds open and festering? Who contunually shows up and fans the flames of racial hatred?

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson: two of the most evil sons of hos in America today.
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