Friday, October 24, 2008

This Infuriates Me!

And it has nothing to do with the Sandbox, or this side of the world! I saw it on the news - it was on Bill O'Reilly this morning - so it was last night's show. I must be the last one to know about it. La Shawn Barber blogged about it in August. I was in the States in August - in North Carolina - right outside of Durham - and didn't catch it!

Crystal Mangum is the "exotic" dancer and sometimes slut prostitute who tried, almost successfully, to ruin the lives of three young men - the Duke Lacrosse player's - by accusing them of rape. She did ruin the life of an over-zealous prosecutor, who, at the time was seeking re-election, but he contributed greatly to his own demise by not dismissing charges he knew to be all lies from the get go.

So now, the woman at the core of the whole debacle has written and released a book. I won't give her any benefit here by linking to it - you want to see it - it'll be in places I've already linked. What should have happened is that her sorry ass should have been thrown in jail for falsely accusing three young men of doing something they never did. Instead, she got off, virtually scott-free, and stands to benefit financially from her book. No. It is just wrong. She tore a city I worked in for many years apart and managed to create a horrendous amount of divisiveness and strife there amongst residents, law enforcement agencies and a well-known, highly respected university.

There is nothing good to say about this woman. A lot of people knew right off the bat that her story wasn't passing the "smell test." But Mike Nifong kept it alive and went along with it, more for the benefit of his being re-elected than for any good and just reason [and look where it got him!]. If the situation had had any truth to it and had this woman really experienced what she said she experienced then all of the men she accused would have deserved to be punished to the full extent of the law. The situation had NO truth to it and she NEVER experienced any of the things she said she did - except in her own mind - and now she is going to "get rich" off of this?!? No. This article says, "Published reports throughout 2006 and 2007 portrayed Crystal as a gold-digging hooker searching for a big payday or as an unstable, troubled young woman." Truly nothing more needs to be said. That explains it all!

2 comments:

  1. Absolutely shameful. I am not sure but I don't think that she nor Nifong paid any damages, as a matter of fact I believe Nifong filed for bankruptcy shortly after resigning.

    I can't imagine what it cost those young men to defend the false charges.

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  2. Beyond shameful, Keith! The boys sued - the City of Durham, Duke... I don't know what the status of their suits are. Seems like I remember seeing something about one of the defendants in their suit paying a "confidential" settlement to them but don't remember the specifics.

    The book is only going to be available by the publisher "on demand," so you have to order a copy to get it. Good thing it is not being published and put on bookstore shelves - it would sit there and collect dust - or I would hope that it would!!!

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