Crystal Mangum: Tops list of people people love to hate

Place Crystal Mangum’s name on top of the list of people other people love to hate.  She’s officially replaced O.J. Simpson as the person who optimizes what it means to walk around with a target on your back.

Mangum’s effort to improve her station in life, by performing exotic dances while taking classes at North Carolina Central University, took a turn for the worse when she claimed being raped by members of Duke’s Lacrosse team. When the story was first reported people felt sad for Mangum. Now people can’t find enough arrows to hurl her way.

The receipt of what appears to be a bogus court filling exposes the deep hatred among those still mad at Mangum for fabricating being raped. The filing, in federal court by a person claiming to be Mangum, alleges Mangum received a payoff from former District Attorney Mike Nifong to fake being raped at the 2006 party she attended to strip for members of the Duke men’s lacrosse team.  The filing claims she was paid $50,000.

The filing shifts from the possible to the absurd.  It claims that Mangum was framed by the New World Order and Illuminati, and that she was a victim in a CIA behavioral engineering program. Those comments are enough to substantiate paranoia and a laundry list of mental illnesses.  Mangum’s past and present actions are enough to raise questions about her mental state, but it’s doubtful she authored the filing.

The filing was postmarked from Philadelphia.  Mangum is in the Durham County jail while facing a murder charge in the stabbing death of Reginald Daye, her former boyfriend. The filing’s return addressed spelled Durham incorrectly, and the signature of Mangum’s last name is spelled wrong.  The document appears to be a hoax.

Despite the evidence to discredit the document, it has been added to the record of a civil rights lawsuit filed against the city by the former members of the Duke lacrosse team Mangum accused of rape.

In an interview with the Herald-Sun, Mangum denied having a role in the filing, and asked if criminal charges could be brought.

“I definitely was not paid secretly $50,000,” she told Ray Gornberg of the Herald-Sun. She added that she hadn’t met Nifong before the lacrosse case and hasn’t spoken to him since February 2007.

There’s evidence to prove Mangum didn’t send the filing.  Most legal observers agree the forger faces an extreme penalty for playing with justice.  Why would a person go to this extreme to take jabs at Mangum and Nifong?

We can only speculate about the evil that lurks around the corner. Is it a ploy by attorneys to raise issues in the civil case against the city of Durham?  Is it coming from a lunatic in Philly still fuming over the handling of the rape case?

People are still angry, and the public is obsessed with throwing stones at Mangum.  The saddest part is in how this impacts her murder case.  Can Mangum receive a fair trial in Durham?  Has too much happened to assume her innocence until proven guilty?

Few seem to care.  As outlandish as the filing appears, many find it easy to believe Mangum sent it to the federal clerk.  Her actions since the rape case have read like a bad movie on the Lifetime Network. As crazy as it seems, it could have happened.  That’s how many people feel.

There’s one major problem with making those assumptions.  The last time I checked, murder cases aren’t held in the court of public opinion.  People may think Mangum took money from Nifong.  There are many who want her to be punished over and over again for what happened with the Duke men’s lacrosse team.  As much as people may want that, this case is not about that case.  The one has nothing to do with the other.  Justice demands blinders, and Mangum can’t get a fair trial.

A careful reading of the court filing exposes the opinion of the author. It’s clear they think Mangum is blaming others for her downfall – the World Order, the Illuminati and the CIA.

You don’t need the World Order, the Illuminati and the CIA when there’s a gang slinging arrows in Philadelphia.  Mangum has enemies from coast to coast.

Expect a letter from Mars.