WEBCommentary Contributor

Author: Michael J. Gaynor
Date:  July 30, 2006

Topic category:  Other/General

Durham Judge Gagging Duke Three Is An Abomination!


Where is the outrage?  Their accuser was NOT raped, but the Duke Three really have been GAGGED (by a judge!).

Where is the outrage?  Their accuser was NOT raped, but the Duke Three really have been GAGGED (by a judge!).  If three poor black natives had been gagged after a young white woman with the criminal, medical, sexual and employment histories of that accuser had accused them of rape and a politically desperate prosecutor had parlayed that into indictments and an upset Democrat primary victory, civil libertarians would be aghast and federal intervention would be demanded.  But, the Duke Three are tripled cursed: they are white, they are Yankees, and their families are wealthy.

The day after Durham County Commissioner Lewis Cheek said he would not campaign against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong or even accept the office if elected, Mr. Nifong held a press conference and conceded that some criticism of the way he's handled the so-called Duke rape case is justified.

Mr. Nifong: "My handling of the media coverage of this case has occasioned substantial criticism, some of which is undoubtedly justified. I both underestimated the level of media attention this case would draw and misjudged the effect that my words would have."

What Mr. Nifong acknowledged were tactic errors, not his great sins: persecuting the Duke Three for personal political advantage and severely prejudicing them in his public statements.

Set forth below is the "Background Facts" portion of the motion by the Duke Three's attorneys for modification of the gag order.  It nicely puts the gag order in context and describes some of Mr. Nifong's "tactics."

A very limited review of Mr. Nifong’s public comments about this case in March and April reflects that Mr. Nifong made the following comments to the public:

BEWARE PROSECUTORS LIKE MR. NIFONG AND JUDGES WHO ISSUE GAG ORDERS TO HELP HIM!

The "Argument" section of the defense motion papers is noteworthy too:

The facts and the law are on the side of the Duke Three.  They should not need  "their 'daddies' or 'expensive lawyers' or other 'right people.'"  They should not be gagged by ANYONE!  And everyone interested in justice should be focusing on the problems posed by a rogue district attorney and his political allies, and a judge who would dare to issue a gag order designed to block the defense from rebutting what Mr. Nifong had publicly stated.

Michael J. Gaynor


Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.


Copyright © 2006 by Michael J. Gaynor
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