Topic category:  Other/General

I previously posted a preview and on September 4 will post my review of THE Book on the Duke case, Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor, Jr. and Professor Robert K.C. Johnson.

In the meantime, here's a relatively succinct answer to the question, why is Until Proven Innocent THE Duke Lacrosse Book?

What started out as the most scandalous news story of 2006 turned into a disgraceful, perfect example of a legal process hijacked by political correctness, personal agendas, sensationalist journalism, and academic extremism. Before a judge and jury could sort fact from fiction—and long after proof of innocence had poured into the public record--three Duke Lacrosse players were persecuted, prosecuted and convicted in the court of public opinion.

Until Proven Innocent is the first and only book that fully uncovers the ugly truth of how political correctness is infecting America’s legal system, corrupting news media, and spreading rot through our Universities. For the first time, the stunning scope of misconduct of the prosecutor, police, media, academia, and the NAACP is exposed through a compellingly narrated torrent of shocking, unknown and little-known details.

Until Proven Innocent is also the only book featuring interviews and vignettes of all three defendants, their families, their ordeals, their colorful legal teams, and their teammates.

It's no longer a secret that Nifong’s motive was to use the phony gang rape claim to save his pension by inflaming the local black community before an election. Nor is it a secret that the stripper fabricated a gang rape to avoid being incarcerated in a mental hospital. But a wide variety of particulars are fully described in Until Proven Innocent alone, including:

--Law corrupted by Personal Agendas. The DA, his ethically dubious investigator, and a dishonest, Duke-hating cop used tactics like distorting and hiding critical evidence, rigging a lineup to frame innocent young men, witness intimidation and refusing even to look at proof of innocence offered by the defense. They collectively deceived the nation by lying about the facts and discounting key evidence like the absence of DNA. Sexual assault nurse-trainee Tara Levicy propped up the phony rape charge by contradicting medical records and invoking unscientific feminist slogans to discount the absence of DNA.

--Sensationalism at Truth’s Expense. In a rush to judgment driven by bias, personal agendas and preconceived views, reporting was replaced by 24-hour news cycle speculation and commentary, condemning three innocent men and publicizing their nightmare nationwide. The majority of media valued selling a salacious story over practicing responsible journalism. Cable’s celebrity media manipulated and sensationalized facts and fanned flames of racism, igniting a mob mentality. The New York Times replaced a reporter who uncovered strong evidence of innocence with a biased Nifong enabler. Even after the accuser changed her story at least seven times, reporters who could have added reason to the fiasco chose to keep it alive while waiting until "all the evidence is in."

--Professors of hate. Duke faculty extremists known as the “Group of 88” rushed to champion the false accuser in order to trash innocent students whom the extremists targeted for being white, male athletes with supposedly “privileged” parents. Some professors even harassed lacrosse players in class and resorted to punitive grading. Most refused to admit error even in the face of overwhelming proof.

--Duke leaders driven by the mob. How Duke President Richard Brodhead, board chairman Bob Steel and others caved in to the mob—including Duke faculty extremists as well as Nifong, the NAACP and others--by smearing the players as racist boors, spreading false innuendoes about them, and fostering a hostile and prejudicial atmosphere on campus.

--NAACP betrayal of its proud history. This book alone explains how the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP blindly branded three men guilty and falsified the facts. In seeking racially motivated revenge, ironically the chapter compromised the NAACP’s proud history of fighting oppressive law enforcement and defending the rights of the accused to fair trials.

Race hustlers, political correctness extremists and feminuts will not be buying the book.

People who care about the truth instead of reinforcing their prejudices will.

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.