Reply #18: Choices

[BrownOak]

Obviously Nifong has the option to drop the charges or talk the AV into dropping them. But from both a political and a PR standpoint, he has few options because he came out so strongly behind the case before the investigation was completed. How much of this stuff was known before he took the case to the grand jury? Obviously a good chunk of it. But he couldn't back out two weeks before the election and he can't back out now.

I agree that the condition of the AV would certainly impact what she was telling the SANE, but at the same point, that makes it even more questionable as to why there wasn't a tox screen. Think about it - the only possible reasons that a tox screen wasn't performed would be if the SANE was incompetent or if the AV refused to consent. The first calls into question the findings from that examiner while the second raises the question of why the AV wouldn't allow the test. There's no good reason the AV wouldn't consent to the tox screen. Essentially there was something in her system - or something not in her system - that she didn't want the police to know. Either way, it doesn't support her allegations.

Regarding the potential missing records, Nifong told the court that he turned over everything.