The blog hooligans who obsessively watched each and every development in the Duke lacrosse case (and, I should point out, know every single detail of the case) are now asking why temporary District Attorney Jim Hardin is not firing investigator Linwood Wilson and Assistant DA Tracey Cline. Duke rape case blogfather KC Johnson writes:

While Hardin—imitating President Brodhead—announced that “we’re going to move forward,” implementing the goals outlined by Willoughby and Easley would require him to take a hard look at the two members of the office, other than Nifong, who played a role in the lacrosse case.

The first such figure, of course, is Linwood Wilson. Hardin has stated that he will make no personnel changes during his interim tenure, but the idea that the person who executed the December 21 frame could still be collecting a public salary is highly troubling. …

But the Nifong ethics hearing also revealed that one other person in his office played a much larger role than previously known: Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline.

For many months, rumors had existed that Cline had pushed Nifong to champion the case—partly from an extreme “victims’ rights” viewpoint, partly for political reasons. But Cline had been able to assume a position of plausible deniability. That stance is no longer sustainable.

He points out that Nifong said at his trial that since he was not experienced in prosecuting sex crimes that Cline would be assisting him. He also intimated that he thought the NTO (nontestimonial order) for DNA from 46 players was overly broad, but that it had been sought by Cline. He also points out that it was absurdly overly broad, including names like that of player Brad Ross who was not even in Durham that night. Nifong’s admission that Cline was supposed to help him on the case prompts these questions from Johnson:

* Did she approve of the procedures used in the April 4 lineup?

* Did she approve of the decision to seek an indictment against Reade Seligmann even though police didn’t even know if Seligmann attended the party?

* Did she approve of sending Linwood Wilson to interview Crystal Mangum on December 21?

* Did she approve of Nifong’s decision to treat Mangum’s December 21 story—which included a wholly new timeline and description of the “attack”—as reliable?

If the answer to any or all of the above questions is “yes,” why should Cline remain in the employ of the Durham DA’s office?