Nifong's Woes: Evidence Of Bigger Problems In Law And Medicine

He may have won re-election handily, but in taking a hooker/dancer/whatever's word against three Duke boys (charged with gang-rape), embattled Durham DA, Mike Nifong has made some enemies. Both the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer published the same story/same headline on the same day: "DA's Critics Ask Feds (State) Bar To Intervene."

Kinda like I've done with District Attorney Garland Yates in Randolph County. I just don't have any influence with the local newspapers.

"Dozens of people, some connected to the accused, have asked the governor and the state attorney general to intervene. Many have complained to the N.C. State Bar, the agency that licenses and disciplines lawyers. And a lawyer for one of the indicted players has urged members of Congress to have the U.S. Department of Justice open a civil rights investigation."

Noting that many people in the blogosphere have told me to "just hire an attorney and sue" or "write the Attorney General", please note that with regards to Nifong's conduct, "N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and Gov. Mike Easley received scores of letters requesting that they take over the case, something North Carolina law does not allow."

Please also note, that when I reported sundry felonies and misdemeanors to Garland Yates over three years ago (after the lawyer who missed them abandoned the case), I naively expected the law to work. It did not (see below), and the statutes of limitations on renewed civil claims have run out (a common trick of the legal trade if someone wants a case to "just go away"). All of the blather about "ethics" . . . about putting victims first . . . about no one being above the law . . . has so far been proven to be just that . . . blather. The only reasonable hope I have of fair restitution now is seeing the perjury (which has no statute of limitations in North Carolina) prosecuted and some kind of plea arrangement reached.

I've been pushed into every corner. I push back.

Back to Nifong's critics:

"I would think of this as misconduct by a DA and that for some reason, maybe political, he has painted a fabricated picture," wrote Edwin G. Beusse, a New York developer who works with Finnerty's father, in a letter Aug. 9. "Isn't there a check or balance for situations like this that are so far out there, that they're obviously false?"

Yes, Mr. Beusse, you would think. But, whatever remedies citizens may have in New York state, the answer to your question about "checks and balances" for North Carolina District Attorneys is NO.

"Molly M. Maguire of Darien, Conn., wrote June 13, 'It is frightening to think of any American being victimized by our own legal system and devastating to know that three promising lives are held hostage to a not-so-hidden political agenda.' Maguire is a friend of the Finnerty family."

Alas, Molly, I have been "victimized" and "held hostage" by the abuses of our legal system (serving local economic and political agendas) for eight years. At least now, I have company.

"(State) Bar officials have responded in writing to the complainants, saying they take the matter seriously. State law prohibits them from saying whether an investigation is under way."

Blah, blah, blah. The Bar always tells you it takes you seriously. But the answer that the complainants will get (unless the seats at the Bar are made to be VERY hot) is that, in North Carolina, local prosecutors have total/absolute discretion . . . and the Bar will not interfere. As an examply, in my own case, I filed two complaints with the North Carolina Bar. One against the fancy-pants hospital lawyers who (1) did not bother to read the federal agreements their clients had entered into, (2) filed a SLAPP suit as a bully tactic to shut me up, (3) filed fase answers in discovery on their clients' behalf (perjury), and (4) failed to provide financial information their clients were ordered to produce (contempt and fraud). The other complaint was against my own attorney who (1) missed or (more likely) ignored the false answers, and (2) abandoned me to the wolves after I discovered his mistakes. Both complaints were summarily dismissed very quickly . . . no one from the Bar bothered to even interview me.

*12/5/06 Addendum/Correction: I actually filed a third complaint with the NC State Bar . . . when Randolph County DA, Garland Yates killed the independent SBI investigation of Randolph Hospital's (executive) actions that I requested. Several lawyers told me that requesting the investigation would allow Mr. Yates to put some distance between himself and any outcome . . . and if the SBI found grounds for prosecution, he could always ask the NC Attorney General to take over the case. But Mr. Yates simply told the SBI he would not prosecute no matter what they determined, so an investigation was not even conducted. I reported felonies, but the truth is a misdemeanor would get more attention by Randolph County law enforcement (currently busy throwing retirement parties for the Sheriff who did nothing on my behalf). But Mr. Yates apparently does not care (or have to worry) about the appearance of conflicted interests because he knows neither the State Bar (citing "prosecutorial discretion) nor local city/county leaders (including the Courier Tribune) are going to challenge his actions (they're too busy figuring out ways to quietly pump taxpayer dollars into the hospital's projects). By doing nothing, he's "helping" Randolph Hospital . . . (according to people like Bonnie and David Renfro) an economic lynchpin of the community (which is apparently is so weakened by its own history and reputation that it cannot bear any scrutiny . . . even when the scrutiny is warranted).

So, good luck with all that.

"Whatever happens at the State Bar, the organization will be under pressure. The bar has been smarting from its handling of two high-profile cases involving prosecutorial misconduct over the past two years. "

"In 2004, David Hoke and Debra Graves were reprimanded for withholding evidence during the trial of Alan Gell, who spent nine years behind bars, half of that on death row, for a murder he did not commit. The withheld evidence included statements showing that the murder occurred while Gell was in jail on a petty charge and a tape-recording of the star witness talking about "making up a story" for police."

"In the second case, also involving a death penalty trial, the bar's prosecutor went after Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer aggressively, charging them with lying, cheating and withholding evidence. The bar alleged that the former Union County prosecutors had committed a string of felonies, including hiding evidence from the judge and jury, altering documents and lying to the trial judge."

So far, in neither case have the lawyers suffered any significant punishment - the cases against them were dismissed on technicalitites.

On the flip side of these cases are legitimate cases like mine that are not being pusued because the DA is, for all practical purposes, "owned" by the people who committed or condoned the crimes. "Prosecutorial discretion" and all that.

This is "Law and Order" in North Carolina. New York City it ain't.

Like the North Carolina Medical Board (which also writes complainants to tell them their complaints will be taken seriously) "the State Bar's charter is not to punish lawyers but to protect the public". The translation of this statement is that both entities protect their own (in the Bar's case look no futher than the preceding paragraphs).

Where the North Carolina Medical Board is concerned, they offer NO PROTECTION to doctors who fulfill their obligations to the Board by reporting medical badness. If you are a physician who is naive and foolish enough to report something that steps on the toes of the big guns with all the power and money (no matter how right you may be), be prepared to swing. For doctors can be wrongfully fired, have their privileges suspended or revoked for bogus reasons (bad-faith peer review), have their reputations assaulted (like being slapped with a SLAPP suit) and see their lives/practices/careers destroyed . . . yet the noble Medical Board will stand on the sidelines and say (sarcastically and with disdain), "We're sorry we can't help you with YOUR problems. (Never mind that your problems exist because of us.)"

The systems of medical and legal oversight that we currently have in place breed corruption and mediocrity . . . actually protecting people who present a danger to the public . . . and punishing those who would be the stopper in the drain.

It's maddening. I was in state and federal service . . . my medical education paid for by the taxpayer . . . I met my service obligations AND complied with every cannon of my Oath and requirement of my license . . . I've provided irrefutable evidence of perjury, contempt and fraud. Moreover, the hospital that did me wrong is licensed and privileged by the state.

Yet the NC Attorney General/DHHS cannot intervene to sanction the hosptial or punish the executives who abused their power . . . then lied when faced with the consequences. One man (a local DA pandering to those I fight) holds all the jurisdiction and all of the power. There are NO checks and NO balances. Especially when, for economic reasons, our local newspapers (particularly the Courier Tribune) are in on keeping the lid on this "can-of-worms".

As bad as things have been for me, the flip side of this problem is that patients who have injured by bad doctors (that the Medical Board more often than not knows about), cannot get any information out of the Board to help prosecute their malpractice cases. Patients looking for accurate information on the qualifications of doctors (like the one I "rescued" in Asheboro - who fancied himself the "chairman" of a department that did not exist) often have trouble getting it.

Everything at both the Board and Bar is shrouded in privilege and secrecy . . . and in many occasions this subterfuge does NOT protect or serve the public . . . no matter what the state charter says.

The powers-that-be in state government can talk about ethics and accountability all they like. But the fact is that the laws we have in place are NOT working to protect the public.

We are not being protected from "bad" doctors and lawyers.

Change the law.

12/4/06 Early Evening Addendum: As cited in an earlier post, I've done blog-battle for several days with John Robinson, Editor of the News & Record. The photographs (of dead children) he published in print and on-line last week pushed some buttons and engaged a few unpleasant Asheboro memories for me. Of course, it was not a reaction JR foresaw or intended . . . and therein lies my objection to the general publication of such photographs.

As the thread has evolved, some of my responses to various commenters have had some bearing to this post. The local newspapers in Asheboro and Greensboro have a responsibility to the public to report the news . . . not just the news that is comfortable or flattering to the community . . . or the publisher's cronies . . . but the news period. That news would include a home-grown, local physician (formerly in public service) leveling charges of perjury/contempt/fraud against two prominent Randolph Hospital executives (Bob Morrison and Steve Eblin) . . . and seeing her efforts to see justice done thwarted & obstructed by local law enforcement, specifically District Attorneys, Garland Yates, King Dozier and Andy Gregson.

The law is the law. When one submits to the legal process, the very least one should be able to expect is that people will tell the truth . . . and be held accountable if they do not. I simply should not have to dance on tables in a Duke frat house to get some attention and some help.