Posted On: December 4, 2008, 7:59 am CST

Posted By: underwriter

Look, these kids aren't angels. We saw that at least one of the accused also had a track record of public misconduct in New England. But that doesn't mean that you throw the kid under the bus at the first sign of trouble. Mike Nifong, the prosecuting attorney, was dis-barred and censured for his negligence and predjudiced (meaning direction of effort, not using the def. of racism) prosecution of the team members on an accusation from a plaintiff who had no forensic evidence to back up her claim. And even though Mr. ficticious "Professor" and his fellow acedemians will never poney up the funds to cover the legal settlement, the point that the University failed to stand behind a group of young men who were deemed worthy enough to attend the esteemed institution is a valid one. Instead, the university chose to play panic attack damage control versus actually assessing the situation and then moving forward. Whoever had their hand on the trigger needs to take a long hard look at this case and develop a well thought out plan just in case something like this were to happen again.

Just remember, no matter how heinous the suspect may seem to our sensitivities they are still innocent until proven guilty, EVEN in a post 9/11 America.

With regards to the settlement issue, well I just wonder if Duke's legal department thought they had it handled? After all, they are DUKE! Right? Their risk management team should have been all over the policy contract to review conditions before sending in the dogs, though. It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out in the end.