Is the Duke Rape Case the Kobe Bryant in Reverse?

It is striking the similarities of the Duke Case and the Kobe Bryant case, just a reversal of the color of the alleged victim. Both cases are high profile because of the accused; with Duke as the Ivy League school, and Kobe Bryant as the star basketball player in Los Angeles. Let's take it one item at a time.

The women willingly went to the place where the rape occurred. The victim in the Duke case was hired to dance at a party. They hired two strippers. It is alleged that the victim was already drunk when she arrived. Kobe's accuser flirted with the player on a hotel tour and went upstairs after work where she continued kissing and so on.

Both women have a history of mental problems, drug and alcohol history. Kobe's accuser has attempted to kill herself and threatened to do so in order to get back an ex-boyfriend. There were text messages and the fact that she did not report her rape until after 24 hours when the DNA was tainted. Duke's accuser spent a week in a hospital for mental problems in 2005.

The women were with other men on the night or right before the alleged rape. DNA showed that both women had been with other men before or right after the alleged rape. In both cases it was multiple samples, not single.

Both women lied when convenient to make themselves more like victims. Duke accuser was set to be sent to the mental ward when she accused the players of rape. She became pregnant within two weeks of the alleged rape, according to District Attorney Mike Nifong. Kobe victim would not acknowledge that she had sex with multiple partners even though the DNA revealed she had.

The prosecutors filed cases based on elections and have paid for their choice. Nifong was in the midst of a campaign to keep his office, mission accomplished. He is dealing with ethics charges that could have him disbarred. Mark Hurlbert decided to run for office during the prosecution of the Bryant case, ultimately losing the office he was appointed to. The cases were made to be racial when it was clearly financial or an attempt to stay out of the mental ward. Who could know the real reason why these District Attorneys brought these cases, but it has not bode well

Neither woman will ever see a criminal conviction. Kobe accuser refused to testify, so the case was dropped. She took it civil where she settled her allegations for an undisclosed amount. Duke accuser has given inconsistent stories from the start. It was rape to "not sure if there was penetration." Rape charges were dropped, but men still accused of kidnapping.

Both cases were about whether or not a woman was raped, but the women had so many motives and problems that it became an effort to hide the motives of the accuser and focus on the wealthy accused. These cases were reduced to race, class, and politics.

The family and most friends have remained silent except the other dancer who says that she was with the Duke accuser who says nothing happened. Her story has become inconsistent the further along it has gone. Kobe's accuser had friends saying she "liked attention good or bad." They went on to call her, "vindictive, impulsive, and emotionally fragile."So it would seem that in the case of the Duke rape, there will be no resolution that will please the community. The African Americans will see it as a race issue if there is no prosecution, even though the accuser has ruined her own case. Kobe's accuser got some money, but lost her reputation. Nifong used the Duke case to win reelection, but now may be disbarred. Hurlbert has already lost his job. If these women were raped, their behavior and that of the prosecution made it impossible to get the case to court let alone to a conviction. It seems the real victims in both cases are the accused who will always be labeled even if they are innocent. Sadly, it will come down to race lines thanks to prosecutors like Nifong and Hurlbert.