Recently I published blogs entitled THE BLACK PANTHER LEGACY (December 1, 2006) and OFFICIAL OPRESSION: THE DUKE UNIVERSITY RAPE CASE (January 15, 2007). This week, there have been some new developments concerning the Panthers and the Duke rape case.
In the Black Panther blog I stated that "Panthers also committed a number of deadly attacks against unsuspecting police officers." I am sure that those who consider the Panthers to be folk heroes do not believe that statement nor do they believe what I said about the free breakfast program coloring book. Hey - Wake up and smell the roses!
This week, eight black men were arrested for the 1971 slaying of a San Francisco police sergeant. A ninth former Panther is also charged in this case and is still being sought. Seven of those arressted were former members of the Black Liberation Army, a branch of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. According to the authorities, the slaying of Sgt. John V. Young was part of the BLA's "five-year campaign to kill law enforcemnt officers in San Francisco and New York."
The Panther BLA attacks against the police were carried out between 1968 and 1973, and included the slaying of two New York City police officers and the bombing of a San Francisco police funeral. Why did it take 35 years for these thugs to be arrested? According to the San Francisco Police Department, the investigation of these attacks was reopened in 1999 after "advances in forensic science led to the discovery of new evidence."
All of those charged are in their 50s and 60s. Stuart Hanlon, a lawyer for one of the arrestees, claims "There's a law enforcement attitude that they hate these people, the Panthers. Now they're going after old men." Damn right, we hate the Panthers and for good reason. And good for SFPD in bringing about the arrest of these cold blooded cop killers.
In the Duke rape blog I wrote that "The State Bar is also investigating his withholding of exculpatory DNA evidence." This week the North Carolina State Bar filed charges against District Attorney Mike Nifong for withholding favorable DNA evidence from defendants in the Duke lacrosse case and for repeatedly lying about it to judges and the State Bar. These charges are far more serious than the previous charges of making inflammatory public statements to reporters and misrepresenting the facts in the case.
Nifong's case against three Duke lacrosse players started to fall apart from its very beginning. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation could not find semen, blood or saliva on the accuser's underwear or on swabs taken from her vagina. Nifong then received the court's permission to go to a private DNA lab for more sophisticated testing. DNA Security of Burlington found DNA from AT LEAST four unidentified men. Not a single cell was found from any of the lacrosse players, all of whom had submitted DNA samples.
Despite repeated requests by the defense, Nifong hid the DNA test results and lied to the court about their availability on five occasiions from May to September. Nifong told the State Bar that he withheld the test results because he was concerned about violating the privacy rights of the lacrosse players. The State Bar recognized this crock of shit for what it was - "knowingly false."
Here is what Joseph Kennedy, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, had to say about the charges against Nifong. "Lying is really at the top of the list in terms of things lawyers just can't do. And then lying about something as important as evidence suggesting innocence in a serious case, it just doesn't get any worse than that."
For personal gain, Nifong pursued this case with reckless abandonment on the word of a slut, despite evidence to the contrary. His phony claim of withholding DNA evidence to protect the privacy rights of the lacrosse players just doesn't hold any water. All of the players would have been tickled pink had there been a public disclosure that the DNA testing did not find a single cell from any of the team members. If Nifong is not disbarred, then there is no justice in this world.
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