by TChris

You'd think a deputy sheriff would know better than to accept a dare like this one:

According to a criminal complaint, a woman sitting at a table with Ringhofer at the party said Ringhofer exposed himself after she dared him in jest.

Deputy Ringhofer has been charged with sexual misconduct and indecent exposure for accepting the dare at a birthday party held in a bar.

Yesterday I wrote about the latest Newsweek article on the Duke lacrosse players alleged rape case. Today, DA Mike Nifong released the e-mail he sent to Newsweek. It's long, you can read it here.

Shorter version: The defense is spinning, the media s*cks and he's prepared to let 12 jurors decide.

Newsweek has a new detailed analysis of the Duke lacrosse players' alleged rape case, asking whether it has collapsed. The facts revealed to date don't seem to support the charges. But DA Nifong is sticking to his guns:

Asked for an interview last week by NEWSWEEK, Nifong declined, but sent an angry e-mail accusing the national media of getting spun by defense lawyers and sticking to his earlier comments to the press. "None of the 'facts' I know at this time, indeed, none of the evidence I have seen from any source, has changed the opinion that I expressed initially," he wrote. He lashed out at "media speculation" (adding, "and it is even worse on the blogs"). He said that he was bound by ethics rules against commenting any more about the case or evidence.

The grand jury returned a "no true bill" for Cynthia McKinney Friday. That means they decided not to indict. But, were they asked to indict?

Prosecutors declined to say whether they asked the grand jury to return an indictment, noting court rules that bar them from disclosing such matters.

How else would the grand jury have returned a "no true bill" unless they had been asked to vote?

Yesterday's Duke lacrosse thread generated 300 comments, so it's time for another. And a commenter got banned and had all his/her comments deleted because of repetitive insults to other commenters. So be forwarned, disagreement is fine, name-calling and personal attacks are not.

The defense filed another challenge to DA Mike Nifong Thursday. Remember when he told America on national tv that his reading of the accuser's rmedical eport indicated a rape had taken place? Turns out, the report hadn't been printed as of that date.

"On March 29, 2006, Mr. Nifong claimed to have read a medical report that, according to discovery, was not printed until March 30, 2006, or retrieved by law enforcement pursuant to Mr. Nifong's own subpoena until April 5, 2006," read the filing from lawyers Joseph Cheshire and Bradley Bannon.

As to the accuser's injurie that might be consistent with a sexual assault, what injuries?

According to the defense, the only injuries noted by the doctor who performed the 33exam were "three small scratches" on her right knee and ankle.

The last Duke thread is full. Here's a place to keep the conversation going.

Update: I'm told there may be an exeption in the federal statute for grand jury subpoenas. Which might just leave the issues of whether Nifong should have obtained prior court approval for the subpoena and whether he needed individualized suspicion for each player whose records he subpoenaed.

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Original Post:

It seems DA Mike Nifong has stepped in it again. Lawyers for 33 unindicted players Monday filed a motion to quash subpoenas he issued without a court order that requests home addresses and other personal information protected by federal privacy laws.

And back to the last Defense motion(pdf) to throw out the Court's initial order compelling the 46 players to provide photographs and other non-testimonial evidence, and evidence derived from them, such as the later photo identifications, I received a request to weigh in on the motion, and in particular, commenters nit-picking over phraseology, so here's my reaction.

Family Court Reno, Nevada Judge Chuck Weller was shot four times in the chest at the Reno courthouse today by a sniper who may have fired from a nearby parking garage. He is believed to be alive.

The suspect is still on the loose. Photos of the shooting are here.

How Appealing is tracking the news stories.

TalkLeft sends its best wishes to Judge Weller for a complete recovery.

Durham County DA Mike Nifong won the Democratic Primary but a write-in candidate has emerged.

A Durham lawyer and county commissioner is considering a write-in election campaign to try and unseat District Attorney Mike Nifong, the prosecutor overseeing the investigation of a rape accusation involving three members of the Duke University lacrosse team.....Commissioner Lewis Cheek said he has been recruited to challenge Nifong.

Also, the New York Times has a detailed article on the Duke case and Nifong today.

The dukesters need a new thread. What's in the news? The Washington Post explores how the players' families are coping.

Feeling abandoned, angry and distraught over their sons' futures, the parents bonded most through the shared conviction that everyone on the team is innocent....Over the months, tensions erupted over legal strategies and fears of which son might be handcuffed next. The less-affluent parents have worried about how to pay legal bills. The wealthy ones swore they would spend every last penny clearing the names of the indicted.

There are also interviews with parents of four of the uncharged players. The article is detailed and I'm so glad to see their side of the story told for once instead of all the attention being focused on the accuser, the inconsistent versions of Dancer #2 and the partying.

TalkLeft commenters have been on top of the new defense filing for hours, but I'm just getting to it. Check it out, the defense tells the court Dancer #2 said the accuser's allegations were "a crock," there was no physical evidence of rape, the rape examiner was a trainee who only found signs of edema and did not attirbute it to a cause, and the accuser's father says the accuser is under the care of a shrink and in no condition to testify.