The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Dr Brian Meehan. He gets the award for the following.

The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.

Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security of Burlington, said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear, pubic hair and rectum of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March. Nurses at Duke Hospital collected the samples a few hours after the alleged assault. Meehan said the DNA did not come from Reade Seligmann, David Evans, or Collin Finnerty, who have been charged with rape and sexual assault in the case.

Meehan struggled to say why he didn’t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn’t know whose DNA it was.

Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory’s standards by not reporting results of all tests.

Did Nifong and his investigators know the results of all the DNA tests? Cooney asked.

“I believe so,” Meehan said.

“Did they know the test results excluded Reade Seligmann?” Cooney asked.

“I believe so,” Meehan said.

Was the failure to report these results the intentional decision of you and the district attorney? Cooney asked.

“Yes,” Meehan replied.

At that answer, several people in the packed courtroom clapped. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III warned the standing-room only crowd to be quiet or leave.

Meehan’s testimony differed from a statement Nifong made at the beginning of today’s hearing.

“The first I had heard of this particular situation was when I was served with this particular motion” on Wednesday, Nifong told the judge. After court, Nifong clarified his remarks to say that he knew about the DNA results.

Nifong, a former Knucklehead winner, should be prosecuted for perjury then. This travesty of justice has gone on too long. Meehan should lose his license for what he did and be sued by the students. He is a doctor, not a prosecutor.

In other related news, its been learned that the accuser is pregnant. Its time someone in North Carolina puts an end to this farce, but first I make Dr Brian Meehan today's Knucklehead of the day.

Also blogging on Meehan/Pregnancy news- Captain's Quarters, Don Surber, LaShawn Barber, Betsy, John in Carolina, Steve Verdon at OTB, A Blog for All,
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