Duke D.A. admits primary motivation: "million dollars of free advertisements"

[pnwmom]

Mike Nifong was in the middle of a hotly contested primary election when he learned about the Duke "rape" case, and decided to personally take on the accuser's cause. Why? In his own words: "free advertisements."

Should the position of District Attorney be an elected position? This case makes me wonder.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17096070.htm

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There's no evidence that Nifong or any of his investigators ever challenged Mangum to explain the contradictions in her versions of what happened on the night of March 13, 2006, at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in Durham. Nor did they ever speak with a Duke Hospital nurse who conducted a pelvic examination of Mangum hours after she said she'd been raped.

Instead, fighting for the Democratic nomination for district attorney, Nifong made a series of decisions and inflammatory statements that generated a media firestorm and turned three innocent college students into criminal suspects.

When reporters and camera crews roamed the sixth-floor hallway outside his office, looking for an interview, Nifong obliged, declaring that the rape was racially motivated.

His campaign manager later said that when she'd asked him what he was doing and warned him that he had no idea what effect his grandstanding might have on his campaign, he replied, "I'm getting a million dollars of free advertisements."

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[Skinner]

1. What a creep. (nt)