Innocence Project co-founder calls for audit of all Nifong cases

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Need more Durham? Here you go.

Hat tip, Durham-in-Wonderland: Howard Update

Innocence Project co-founder calls for audit of all Nifong cases

By Anne Blythe
[e-mail] 11, 2014

Durham - Two men with a wealth of knowledge about wrongful convictions - an attorney who works with the Innocence Project and a North Carolina man who spent 19 years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit - stood outside the Durham courthouse Friday and called for an inquiry into all cases former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong tried.

Inside the courthouse, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson had just described a Nifong case from 199e as one the "most horrendous" prosecutions he had seen in his 34 years on the bench.

Despite DNA evidence that pointed to other culprits, Nifong pushed ahead in 1993 with a murder case against Darryl Howard, who has maintained he was wrongfully convicted.
....

Barry Scheck, head of the Innocence Project, and Darryl Hunt, a Winston-Salem man exonerated after serving 19 years in prison for murder and rape that he did not commit, said Howard's case suggests a broader problem in Durham. ... They called for an audit of all of Nifong's cases and the establishment of inquiry commissions similar to others in Texas and New York that look into patterns of prosecutorial misconduct.

[archaic56]

1. The Whole State

the whole state needs to be investigated by the FEDS ...especially District Attorney Ron MOore of Asheville.Thank goodness the jerk lost the election
and soon will be gone. His crimes are legion.NON prosecution of sexual abuse and the INNOCENCE Project has already freed some of his victims. I applaud them..

[sweetexile]

2. same oughtta go for TX

We had the same deal here with a former d.a. named Ken Anderson of Williamson Cty. who was found to have completely fabricated evidence against a citizen named Michael Morton, who spent 24yrs. in prison. CNN made a movie about how it went down and Josh Levs of CNN wrote an internet news item calling for similar review of all of Anderson's cases while a prosecutor. We need federal laws on this because the states won't do this without being forced to face their mistakes and correcting them.