SIGforum.com Main Page The Lounge INJUSTICE knows no bounds: Durham, NC refuses to compensate man who served 21 years for murders he did not commit
Main Page The Lounge INJUSTICE knows no bounds: Durham, NC refuses to compensate man who served 21 years for murders he did not commitPage 1 2
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Step by step walk the thousand mile road |
Let me see if I understand this story. Man is suspected of two murders. Detective fabricates evidence. In a separate matter, DA [NiFong] was later proven to be perjurer and evidence fabricator. Man convicted of two murders. Man's conviction overturned when evidence of government fuckery came to light. Man wants to be compensated, goes to court. Court rules his claim is valid, and awards $6M. City refuses to pay lawful judgment, but paid $4M in legal fees defending the retired cop who fabricated the evidence that wrongly convicted an innocent man. City now demanding wrongly convicted man pay the legal fees of government employees who were sued. ` In-fucking-credible. I would be apoplectic. I'm talking armored bulldozer rampage apoplectic. Nice is overrated "It's every freedom-loving individual's duty to lie to the government." Airsoftguy, June 29, 2018 | ||
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| Thank you Very little  |
He'll go to court and a judge will hold the city in contempt and they will pay, council doesn't have the authority to override the court order. Stupidity, bunch of city council people thinking they don't have to follow the order, in fact he may end up costing the city more money. Countdown begins until the inevitable "the city doesn't pay the taxpayer pays" argument starts. Problem with that is, the taxpayers elect the city leaders, who hire city employees, if you want to protect taxpayers, then force the city to have insurance for these situations. | |||
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A Grateful American |
Can any legal beagles explain why the city could not/would not be found in contempt by the judge and be forced forfeiture, seizure, and sale of assets to compensate the man, like any citizen would encounter? Wrong is wrong, and if presented the way to make it right, and choose to do more wrong, is abhorrent and despicable beyond words. edited: Thanks HRK, I was Turtle Typing™ when you posted. "the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב! | |||
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Shall Not Be Infringed |
In my experience at the local/municipality level, and NOT anywhere near city-sized .gov (Durham, NC population is 290K, which is 20x the size of my local municipality), it was the insurance company making decisions on settling lawsuits and/or paying such judgements. Does this 'really' come out of the city coffers, or would a city of this size be insured to cover such liabilities? Regardless, Darryl Anthony Howard has a BIG (and justified) settlement coming his way, and I expect he'll collect on that debt!  This message has been edited. Last edited by: nhracecraft, ____________________________________________________________ If Some is Good, and More is Better.....then Too Much, is Just Enough !! Trump 2024....Make America Great Again! "May Almighty God bless the United States of America" - parabellum 7/26/20 Live Free or Die! | |||
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Member |
I think the city is saying that the detective is personally responsible, that he acted outside the boundaries and he should pay, not them. Of course he does not have 6 million He should have been indemnified by the city and they should pay, they are trying to maneuver through a legal crack rather than pay. They had the opportunity to do the right thing here and acted in bad faith. I think the court will come back at them with a vengeance CMSGT USAF (Retired) Chief of Police (Retired) | |||
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Member |
To fabricate and perjure (what do you call it when the prosecution lies?) is despicable. They should be pursuing justice. They are not; they are knowingly convicting an innocent. We have policies against such things. Better that a criminal go free than convict an innocent and such. Disbarment is woefully insufficient. Getting fired is woefully insufficient. These people belong in jail serving extended hard time. These people are worse than serial killers. "Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book | |||
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| The Main Thing Is Not To Get Excited  |
And Nifong's name crawls from the sewer to make it more interesting. In my own neck of the woods go the other way. 4th of July festival two years ago at a festival with music and celebration and what-not, a clearly impaired Indian was threatening people and causing problems, it culminated with a screwdriver at the neck of a child and a cop shot him. DRT. 911 calls had been pouring in for several minutes before the end game. Investigation ensued, cop was within policy, parents were grateful and said so. As I recall it didn't go to trial. Done. Tribe of course is pissed. City pungles up 2 mil to the family for the shooting. My point, lest I am being typically unclear; watch carefully who you put in positions of what once was laughably called Public Trust. Imagine that you are the police officer that stopped the threat, gets put on the beach for a very public exam of his actions, is found within policy, thanked by normals and then watches the city do that. This happens time and again. Once elected they seem to acquire little tiny gavel syndrome and think they are no longer accountable; western WA and Durham, NC. _______________________ | |||
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| As Extraordinary as Everyone Else  |
I think the reason the city is refusing to pay is that the detective was sued, not the city. Here’s Steve Lehto’s take on it. https://youtu.be/TlxLvJ74Zu0 ------------------ Eddie Our Founding Fathers were men who understood that the right thing is not necessarily the written thing. -kkina | |||
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Casuistic Thinker and Daoist |
That's the way I'm reading it also. The City is saying that the detective is personally responsible for the judgement since he's actions were not within his "normal duties"...he broke the law. It might have even passed the smell test, if they hadn't just defended him against the suit. Once they did that, they pretty much bought into the case and judgement No, Daoism isn't a religion | |||
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| A Grateful American |
^^^ Yep. They got in bed with him and made the baby. They need to pay child support. 21 years worth. "the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב! | |||
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| Oh stewardess, I speak jive.  |
21 Million sounds about right. Make it hurt to be this wrong. | |||
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Alienator |
This is the same city that found thousands of ballots in the middle of the night to swing the election for Roy Cooper. It's a liberal shithole. SIG556 Classic P220 Carry SAS Gen 2 SAO SP2022 9mm German Triple Serial P938 SAS P365 FDE Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" | |||
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Member |
This is the definition of a "distinction without a difference". If the LEO was in the employ of the city, which he was, the city gets to pay. The City Council folks are just showing their ignorance, and I'm sure the upcoming judge will point that out to them...right before he tells them to pay up. ----------------------------- Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter | |||
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| His diet consists of black coffee, and sarcasm.  |
If the guy had just been mistakenly convicted, with no malice, I'd say give him assistance with employment and housing and a stipend with an eventual "sunset" to get him back on his feet, along with an apology. But a cop fabricating evidence and a DA who, while he might not have been malicious in this particular case, is still tainted, is a whole different story. I hope he gets twelve million dollars. | |||
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| Member |
Probably comes down to two things: 1. Bad actors were city employees but their job was not to railroad people. No city (or company) could afford to pay for the intentional, illegal acts of their employees. 2. Sovereign immunity probably bars any direct claim against the city anyway. I agree that this is horribly unjust but the system isn’t set up to right every wrong. | |||
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Political Cynic |
Toss everyone on the city council in the slammer on contempt charges. They will be released if and only if they pay the full amount, which should now be increased for additional punitive damages. Round it up to an even $20 mil | |||
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| Non-Miscreant |
I'd guess a start will be to get every penny of his pension directed to the guy who they put away. Then every cent he has in his savings. Keep in mind the only folks getting rich, as always, are the lawyers. At least initially, the poor guy they put away will need a means of support, and the former crooked cop can go live under a bridge somewhere. The system is set up to protect the crooked actors here. The city and their "fathers". Unhappy ammo seeker | |||
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semi-reformed sailor |
I worked for a city of 50k in NC that is just on I95 and about 45 minutes East of Raleigh. The City was SELF insured. So was the town just north of us. The go to answer to any court case or threat of being sued was to offer $10k in cash to the person-regardless if the city was actually at fault or not, just so they didn’t have to go to court. If the party turned down the money, the city’s answer was to not pay anything. Or drag cases out for years or decades to try and force a settlement. I saw the town drunk see a broken storm grate and he deliberately stepped into and break his leg just to get money from the city. And the city paid. I was flabbergasted…literally committed fraud in front of an officer and the city paid his hospital bills and gave him cash. "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
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| Do No Harm, Do Know Harm |
Durham…that city deserves whatever it gets. Liberal as it comes in this state, with only a couple of close exceptions. That thing about Wilson being self-insured…technically if a NC agency has liability insurance, they waive sovereign immunity by default (separate from qualified immunity). I’m not a lawyer, yadda yadda yadda, but it’s in statute and I don’t really understand it all. https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedL..._160A/Article_21.pdf Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here. Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN "All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones | |||
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Don't Panic |
Other than the issue with prosecutorial malfeasance (which I deplore) and the attempt by the city not to pay the $6M jury award from a suit asking $48M (the 'I'm not paying' defense...does that work?) this is what struck me: Timeline appears to be: 1) Convicted for rape in 1995 2) Freed and conviction vacated when DNA testing done on rape kit in 2016 Why the delay? Did they not have DNA testing before 2016? One would think that would be done on all rape cases where samples were available. | |||
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SIGforum.com Main Page The Lounge INJUSTICE knows no bounds: Durham, NC refuses to compensate man who served 21 years for murders he did not commit
Main Page The Lounge INJUSTICE knows no bounds: Durham, NC refuses to compensate man who served 21 years for murders he did not commit© SIGforum 2024