I am particularly sensative about this case because in a way it indirectly affected me and my family.
My oldest son( a senior in high school),attended a party at a place that is used to house hockey players. The players that live there were away at the time,but invited a team member to "feel free and party " there. He organized this party and about 90 kids showed up. About 20 of them were on the high school LaCrosse team. Damage was done to the house and the coach of the hockey team filed charges,for criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. Certain kids were singled out(my son being one),for various reasons,(mostly because we made them go to the police and be honest,while others lied). Somehow the press got wind of the fact that there were members of the LAX team at the party and suddenly it became this big sensational story that the local LAX team was being arrested,etc..One of the local reporters compared it to the Duke story. Although the kids were wrong,it was completly blown out of proportion and exagerated in the press. Mug shots and all were plastered all over the local news.Keep in mind these are all underage kids. It created quite a debate on local talk radio as to the ethics of putting photos of juveniles in the news when they had not been proven guyilty or not.
Long story short,the end result was most of the charges were either dropped or reduced,records sealed,but the press was like dogs to meat because they thought they had a "Dukeish" scandal. When we went to court,the cameras were literally chasing us down,while completly ignoring people in shackles who had commited violent crimes.
The prosecutor had his hands tied because it wasn't politically correct to let the suburban athlete boys get away with having a party.
Although these kids were wrong they were not criminal. All 90(including girls,none of whom were charged) of them should have been responsable for paying and repairing any damages done.
On a much smaller scale,I know how it feels to have someone you love up front and center in the press. When I saw the mother of the Seligman boy today weeping in court,I could only imagine how this has changed her life.Nothing will ever be the same and because of Nifong,they will never have faith in our justice system. There has been irreversible damage done.He deserves everything he gets.
PS Just an aside,recently a local girl delivered a stillborn baby and threw the baby out in the trash. She recieved a $50 fine. Teenagers having a party were charged with misdemeaners and felonies. Something just in not right with our justice system.