IS IT POSSIBLE TO TRANSFORM OUR RAPE CULTURE?

The Pathetic Scumbag Accused Rapists

Matt Denowski

Matt Zash

Bret Thompson

When I began to study group sexual assault on campus, I found that the majority of gang rapes were perpetuated by fraternity men. Men who don't like to live around women, who have difficulty accepting women as equals and relating to them...called 'hidden rapists'." (O'Sullivan, "Fraternities and the Rape Culture" Transforming a Rape Culture, 1995)

In gang culture, or fraternity, crimes such as this, it is highly unlikely that an investigator will get anyone to speak. The only way is if they detect a weak link...a kid with a conscience. A kid with a lot to lose. The investigators need to get heavy on that kid...pressure him, scare him...make him squeel like a pig, so those rapists pigs get theirs in prison. No man like that deserves to be on this earth as far as I'm concerned. Any rapist should get the death penalty in my eyes. It is the oldest and ULTIMATE hate crime. HATE against women.

DURHAM -- The ongoing investigation of Duke University's lacrosse team following an exotic dancer's allegations of gang rape has featured back-and-forth comments between District Attorney Mike Nifong on the one hand and criminal defense lawyers hired by team members on the other.

The situation is unusual in some regards, with no charges having been filed, widespread news media coverage and a large number of people under suspicion -- DNA test results are awaited on 46 players. (It was stated on Kimberly Newfoyle's show on Fox that the DNA came back negative? I'll wait on the official word on that one...not some anonymous Duke kid.)

But dueling media interviews are far from unprecedented, legal experts say. "It's not unusual," said Kenneth Broun, a UNC law professor who specializes in legal ethics. "That's what happens lots of times, in my judgment too many times -- and I'm not commenting on this specific situation."

The N.C. State Bar's Rules of Professional Conduct make allowance for public comment by attorneys, he noted, although they prohibit comments outside court that "will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing" a legal proceeding.

A lawyer is specifically allowed to say what he or she reasonably believes necessary to protect a client from the prejudicial effect of recent publicity that wasn't created by the lawyer or client.

"So back-and-forth is implied in that," Broun said. "There are rules I'm sure the Bar will look at very carefully, but whether the rules were violated in this particular instance I don't know."

"It sure is unusual to have this many people under suspicion," Broun said. "It's not unprecedented, though. You can have somebody identified, for example, as a gang member, and anybody affiliated with a gang then becomes -- and I'm not trying to equal the lacrosse thing, of course, with a gang -- but that sort of thing."

The rules also allow lawyers to talk about information in a public record, which in the lacrosse team case includes search warrants that have been executed by police and returned to the court.

"As soon as a document becomes public, the lawyer is not contributing further to the possibility of prejudice at this point," Broun said. "Under the rules you can certainly talk about things that are a matter of public record. ? So once that's done, the lawyer can talk about it, and the other side can try to explain it."

Nor is it unusual for lawyers to advise their clients not to talk to police. A scheduled team meeting with police early in the investigation was canceled after a lawyer was hired to represent some team members.

Typically, Broun said, that's what happens.

"Their attorneys advise them not to talk to police even if they're totally innocent, because of the possibility that things that you might say even if you're totally innocent in the case might be viewed differently by the person hearing them than you meant them," he said. "I think that a criminal defense lawyer will generally tell a person under suspicion that unless there is a good reason to talk to police -- for instance, if there's a plea bargain involved or the story is clearly exonerating -- the lawyer will often tell the client not to talk to police. And I wouldn't draw any reflection on guilt or innocence based upon the failure to talk, particularly after a lawyer gets involved. That's pretty standard operating procedure."

Lawyers for the team members have been effective in getting their message across, said Irving Joyner, a law professor at N.C. Central University.

"The defense attorneys probably have been getting the best of it in the media, providing at least in the minds of people some questions about what some people may have thought was an open-and-shut matter," Joyner said. "They have appropriately responded to statements and were probably helped by what seemingly was a retreat on DNA evidence."

But, he added, "as a general rule, I'm opposed to trying cases in the media."

If the case does result in a court trial, it could well be held somewhere other than Durham County, because of publicity and emotions surrounding the allegations, Broun said.

"It would be certainly a situation in which the court would consider a change of venue," he said. "I cannot give an opinion as to whether it would be granted or should be granted. But this is an instance in which you would have to seriously look at the question of whether you can get 12 fair jurors in Durham, and that would be the consideration for the court. I would be surprised if there weren't that motion made. The question is, where do you go with it? It's like you can mitigate it some, but the publicity on this is nationwide."

NO CHANGE OF VENUE! Let these rapist pigs get tried in front of THEIR PEERS like the justic system warrants.