Landscaper and former hard-left city council member Frank Hyman has written a column reminiscent of a series in the weekly Independent years ago. In that series, the lefties at Indy were using statistics to show that too many blacks were in jail. Their prescription, following the logic they used, seemed to be: “Durham must arrest more white people.”
Now Hyman uses statistics to show that a lack of evidence shows that those white lacrosse players are probably guilty. Like most of Durham’s lefties, Hyman wants these guys in court. They claim to be concerned about the process of justice but, if the past is any indication, they really want them convicted even if they aren’t guilty. Like the Indy reporters and editors a few years ago, they want some white faces in jail just to even the score. And with a jury pool from Durham, where some blacks have already said the players should be convicted just to settle old black-white scores, that’s certainly a possibility. Even Nifong has said his zeal for this prosecution has to do more with “divisions in the community” than any actual evidence of rape.
It’s easy for Hyman to advocate a trial in this atmosphere even when there is no evidence of guilt. For these boys and their families, it’s their reputations, lives, freedom and fortunes on the line. The only thing he’s likely to get hauled into court over is if some client’s shrubbery dies.
