Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Duke Rape Case Unravels; Plus, what will Dick Wolf Do?

Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson explore the role race and class have played in the now infamous Duke lacrosse player rape case:

It's no secret that hugely disproportionate numbers of the innocent people oppressed by abusive prosecutors and police in this country are African-Americans. Now one of the most outrageous cases of law-enforcement abuse is unfolding in Durham, N.C., home of the Duke lacrosse case. And African-Americans are leading the cheers for the oppressors. Why? The poison of identity politics, plus class hatred of the prosecutor's three main victims, well-off white men falsely accused of rape by an unstable black "exotic dancer," and a deeply dishonest district attorney.

As Taylor and Johnson recount the evidence, it seems clear that the players are innocent of rape and probably the rest of the charges.

But on to another aspect of the case. Taylor and Johnson point out that "two weeks ago we learned--only because dogged defense lawyers cracked a prosecutorial conspiracy to hide evidence of innocence--that the private lab did find the DNA of "multiple males" in swabs of the accuser's pubic hair, panties, and rear after the supposed rape. None of this DNA matched any lacrosse player." Will DA Nifong get hit with ethics charges? With violating the players' constitutional rights.

Perhaps more important, however, how will Dick Wolf play this story? Everybody knows that the disclaimer run before every Law and Order episode is bogus. Wolf may claim that the story and characters are fictional, but the stories in fact are often ripped from the headlines.

The trouble with telling a prosecutorial misconduct story is that all the recurring characters are prosecutors. Would Jack McCoy commit the sort of egregious violations Nifond allegedly has done? And, if so, how do you bring him back next week?

One solution, I suppose, would be to have another EADA commit the violation, which McCoy then investigates. Alternatively, if Wolf decides to write the Connie Rubirosa character off the show, he could have her commit the violation unbeknownst to McCoy (or vice-versa in case it's time for Sam Waterston to retire).

BTW, I didn't see the Shark episiode based on the Duke case, which in any event appears to have been filmed back before Nifong's misconduct had been so dramatically laid bare.