This allegation in the New York Times may be true, but it may not be. It appears that Bryant's attorney, Pamela Mackey, "suggested in open court Friday that the Los Angeles Lakers star may have been falsely accused of rape because he is black."
It turns out, reading the article, that Mackey actually said, "There is lots of history about black men being falsely accused of this crime by white women ... I don't think we want to get dragged down into this history any more than we want to get into the history brought up by the rape crisis center." (The crisis center was arguing that following a certain Florida case where the victim's medical history was introduced the number of reported rapes dropped - so the defense here shouldn't have access to certain medical records.) It really doesn't seem to me that Mackey makes the claim the Times attributes to her. Maybe she obliquely "suggests" (in the very broadest sense of "suggest") that there is some racial component -- and she may very well adopt that tactic later in the trial -- but it doesn't sound to me like she's doing that here.
Mackey is an odd character, certainly, and I wouldn't be surprised if in her vigorous defense she did "play the race card," but she didn't here, it would appear. I guess I find this somewhat frustrating for a couple of reasons -
First, the Times is obviously exaggerating (if not deliberately misleading) their readers -- something you would think they'd have learned not to do.
Second, this belittles an actual, genuine problem of interracial sexual attitudes by making them seem like a scam run by defense attorneys (since many people, upon hearing the Times interpretation of Mackey's comment, would laugh).
Third, the "summary" of the defense attorney's statements is more fuel for the fire of those who are predisposed to dislike the legal profession (who may read the Times account and view this as ridiculous lawyering).
None of that is clearly expressed, but hopefully you get the idea. I'm too hungry to elaborate.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2004
(473)
-
▼
January
(116)
- A Home for the Imagination: It grew up around the ...
- Car Talk question
- Snopes on Superbowl
- Mr Cranky strikes again
- Strategic deterrence
- Never Say Die, by Michael Kinsley
- General Malaise: Democrats, for the good of the co...
- The Heart of Politics: One Woman, Two Senators and...
- Claremont Review of Books on Volokh
- BBC Apologises As Dyke Quits
- In Shake-Up, Dean Names Gore Ally to Run Campaign
- Chevron's Station
- To ponder on...
- Scalia and Stevens - An introduction
- Up and coming analysis
- Yeahs and Boos on immigration
- Judge Says R. Kelly Must Avoid Jackson
- Trailer watch.
- Cline on Kucinich
- Good Scalia quote
- Clark Contrasts Humble Roots with Yale-Educated Ri...
- With Fanfare and a Grand Parade, Paris Celebrates ...
- Water birthing
- Kazaa sues music industry...
- Alert: Dancing German Monster Thing
- Death penalty responses
- "Xerox"
- "Apple's diplomatic core"
- Adopting law
- Blockbuster rents porn
- Agatha Christie - One published lady.
- Note the email...
- Political compass
- Kobe Bryant racism charge...
- Thomas Kinkade
- Hey, Nobody Noticed!
- Mars rover sending data again
- Student Sex Case in Georgia Stirs Claims of Old So...
- California Democrats Face Grim Post-Mortem
- 2 Jewish Leaders Upset After Viewing 'Passion'
- Michael Moore
- Blogging from Atlanta
- Bargaining for Freedom, by Nicholas D. Kristof
- Rehnquist Questioned on Cheney-Scalia Trip
- Dean Plans Return To 'Who I Really Am'
- Chinese Move to Relax Severe Judicial Penalties
- Death penalty thoughts
- The Bush Conspiracy Theory Generator
- Nintendo's Big, Bad Gamble
- Commenting Feature Changed
- More lawsuits filed by RIAA
- Brian was right?!
- Pitzer College: A Bunch of Loons
- Microsoft Compliance Report
- Look before you leap
- Kozinski Quotables
- Imperfect credit markets
- Iowa Caucus Roundup
- 1000 Hits and a Few More Links
- Michael Jackson proves his innocence!
- Efficient contract avoidance
- Kucinich's New Strategy
- Illegal downloading on the rise
- Grover
- An...err... interesting writing competition
- U Chicago Law Clinic Victory
- Trailer Watch
- Michael Moore: 'We're going to have the best chanc...
- Cass-piracy Theories
- Airline Gave Government Information on Passengers
- Cheney Hunting Trip With Scalia Raises Impartialit...
- Rumors of Castro's Death Sweep Miami-Dade -- Again
- What A Day!
- President Bush Uses Recess Appointment for Pickering
- Release Saddam Say Jordan Lawyers
- Carol Moseley Braun Reportedly Dropping Out of Rac...
- Chicago Judges Project
- *The* Ad
- Irony defined:
- Defining corporations...
- The Bush Democrats, by David Brooks
- Jeff Jarvis - Claremont Man
- Carol for President!
- Tournament of Federal Appellate Judges
- The Food Network and Good Eats
- A Great Time-waster!
- Law and Econ at work...
- Public Service Messages
- One approach to free cable...
- A (not THE) Ginsburg in Chicago?
- Blogging Excuse
- Telepathic horses
- Law & Order coloring books!
- The New Republic Endorses Lieberman
- Iraq's Arsenal Was Only on Paper
- Woman Says She Lost Ticket Worth $162 Million
- Hillary Clinton 'truly regrets' Gandhi Joke: Remar...
- Arkansas Executes Mentally Ill Inmate
- Bill Bradley to Back Dean
- 500 Hits and Counting
-
▼
January
(116)
No comments:
Post a Comment