Darryl Howard: North Carolina: 'Corrupt Justice; at Durham: Question of the Day: Reporter JD King looks closely at The Howard case and the Duke Lacrosse case and asks, "How many more people have a case that should be overturned?"..."As you’ll remember, District Attorney Mike Nifong, the Durham police and a DNA lab had all conspired to frame three Duke lacrosse players. We remember wondering at the time how many other people had been falsely accused and convicted? You can put Darryl Howard in that number. Howard was convicted in 1991 of murdering a mother and her daughter and wasn’t cleared until 2016 when DNA evidence led to his exoneration. Durham police detective Darryl Dowdy was accused of making up evidence and - surprise - Nifong did not disclose exulpatory evidence to the defense. Howard got $6 million but he says that’s not enough to make up for 23 years spent in prison and who can argue? How can anything make that right?"

COMMENTARY: "The long arm of Mike Nifung, exposed again," by Reporter JD King, published by Duke Basketball Report on December 16, 2021. 

SUB-HEADING: "How many more people have a case that should be overturned?"

PHOTO CAPTION: "Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, left, speaks while attorney Kirk Osborn, center, and Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann, right, listen in the courtroom at a Durham County court building Thursday, May 18, 2006. Instead of trying to find the truth about what happened on March 13, 2006, District Attorney Mike Nifong set out to prove that three Duke University lacrosse players had raped an exotic dancer. Michael Nifong may never be able to practice law again, but Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann may never be able to erase the stain left by a case that went wrong from the start."

GIST: "The Duke lacrosse case revealed many things but among the most disturbing was the realization of just how corrupt justice in Durham had become.

As you’ll remember, District Attorney Mike Nifong, the Durham police and a DNA lab had all conspired to frame three Duke lacrosse players. (By withholding DNA evidence that exculpated them. HL);  We remember wondering at the time how many other people had been falsely accused and convicted?

You can put Darryl Howard in that number.

Howard was convicted in 1991 of murdering a mother and her daughter and wasn’t cleared until 2016 when DNA evidence led to his exoneration.

Durham police detective Darryl Dowdy was accused of making up evidence and - surprise - Nifong did not disclose exulpatory evidence to the defense.

Howard got $6 million but he says that’s not enough to make up for 23 years spent in prison and who can argue? How can anything make that right?

In many ways, the Duke Lacrosse hoax presaged many of the divisions that later became so stark. And we really don't care what side you might prefer. Live your own life.

But we hope that we can all agree on this: no one, under any circumstance, should go to prison for a crime or crimes they did not commit.

Instead of shirking jury duty or trying to get out of it, we should all accept it as a great privilege and do our absolute best to be fair and even handed.

It’s impossible to stop every prosecutor and rogue cop that comes along, but we the people are the backstop. We can’t stop people from being corrupt but we can help prevent tragedies like what happened to Howard. We can keep future Nifongs from destroying more lives."

The entire commentary can be read at:

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com/2021/12/16/22839008/the-long-arm-of-mike-nifong-exposed-again-darryl-howard-exonerated-duke-lacrosse-case

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL, FINAL WORD: "It is incredibly easy to convict an innocent person, but it's exceedingly difficult to undo such a devastating injustice. 

Jennifer Givens: DirectorL UVA Innocence Project.