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Syracuse Man Calls For Mistrial Due to Police Brutality

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Posted on December 11, 2011 by Alyssa Meisner

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The Bernie Fine scandal at SU has drawn a lot of attention, but recently the attention has shifted from Fine to the other players in the story such as the media and SU administration.
Federal authorities continue to investigate claims that Fine sexually abused boys, but as yet he has not been charged with anything. In the meantime, critics, columnists and especially those taking part in on-line comment forums, have blasted news media and SU. ESPN and the Syracuse Post-Standard have been attacked for not informing police of the allegations, and especially for not letting police know about the existence of the recorded telephone call between Fines wife Laurie and his accuser Bobby Davis. The university is being attacked for not passing its 2005 findings on to the police or the district attorney. And this week the DA himself came in for some criticism. First the facts in a timeline put together from news articles in Syracuse.com and several other news sources. 1967 Bernie Fine graduates from SU and goes into coaching. 1976 Jim Boeheim hires the former SU team manager as an assistant coach 1983 Bobby Davis meets Fine while playing basketball at Sunnycrest Park 1983-1984 Davis starts hanging out at Fines house; Davis says that on this date Fine had molested him for first time March 1987 Davis says later he stayed in Fines hotel room and Fine abused him

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This CNN photo is one of hundreds that have splashed Bernie Fines face across the Internet.

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May 2000 SU promotes Fine to associate head coach January 2001 Zach Tomaselli claims he was sexually abused on this date by Fine in a Pittsburgh hotel room while attending the SU-Pittsburgh game as Fines guest 2002 Davis calls the Syracuse police to report he was abused by Fine, later that year Davis contacts The Post-Standard and alleges Fine abused him, and then secretly records a phone call with Laurie Fine, Bernie Fines wife 2003 After a six-month investigation, The Post Standard tells Davis that it does not plan to publish his accusations against Fine because it could not corroborate his claims

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Pointing Fingers | News In A Multimedia World June 2003 Davis contacts ESPN and alleges Fine molested him. ESPN investigates and decides it does not have enough evidence to report. 2005 SU has its law firm Bond, Schoeneck and King conduct an investigation into Davis allegations that he was sexually abused by Fine. SU says no wrongdoing by Fine was found. Nov. 10, 2011 Danielle Roach tells Syracuse police a friend of hers was abused by Fine Nov.17 Davis and Roach talk to Syracuse police and Roach gives Syracuse police a copy of Davis recorded phone call with Laurie Fine. The same day ESPN airs the story in which Davis and his stepbrother, Mike Lang, accuse Fine of molesting them as children. Syracuse police confirm they are investigating sex abuse allegations against Fine and SU puts Fine on administrative leave. Nov.23 Zach Tomaselli gives Syracuse police a statement alleging Fine molested him in 2002 when he was 13. Nov.27 The Post-Standard publishes a story in which Zach Tomaselli accuses Fine of molesting him. ESPN and The Post-Standard publish stories about Davis recorded phone call with Laurie Fine and SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor fires Bernie Fine.

Media Reaction
Reactions to media coverage of the scandal have been mixed, with some supporting the efforts of media outlets such as ESPN and The Post-Standard and others harshly criticizing. Kelly McBride, Senior Faculty, Ethics, Reporting and Writing at the Poynter Institute , Based on what Vince Doria, ESPNs senior vice president and director of news, told us this week, its clear that the network didnt have enough information to publish a story at that time (2003). Going public would have been journalistically irresponsible. Furthermore McBride explained that the tape doesnt provide enough evidence to pursue because, Nowhere on the tape does she describe firsthand knowledge of her husband abusing children. The Post-Standard responded similarly, Executive Editor Michael Connor said in a column, Some of the language seems to support Davis depiction of his relationship with Fine. Seems wasnt good enough to publish this story. If you were the target of such damaging accusations, youd expect that degree of care from us. Regarding why they didnt go to the police with the tape, The Post-Standard said, To us, handing over to police materials we didnt feel confident enough to publish was unimaginable. We have separate and independent purposes Scott Corischi, Sports Editor for GoLocalProv.com, a Rhode Island website covering sports, weather, news, politics and arts, disagrees however. He said, Why didnt ESPN or the Syracuse Post Standard think this tape was clear evidence of Fines guilt back in 2002 but now believe that it is? After Corischi heard ESPNs explanation he said, Maybe your reporters should have been working a little harder than they were 8 years ago because it would not have been very difficult to get a recording of Laurie Fines voice to compare to the tape given to you by Davis. Nice try, but thats a lame excuse! Chancellor Nancy Cantors letter, replying to a critical editorial in USA Today, said had she know of the tape earlier, Fine would have been fired on the spot. When the tape emerged for the first time on Nov.27, we fired Fine. Those who held onto the tape for nearly 10 years owe everyone an explanation. Some readers echoed Cantors sentiments, and criticized ESPN and the Post Standard as to why they held the tape for so long. A nonscientific survey of approximately 100 SU students asked which media outlets they were going to for their information, and how informed they felt on the Fine scandal, on a scale of 1 being least informed to 5 being most informed. The survey revealed that even those who were getting information from the New York Times, Syracuse.com, ESPN and The Post-Standard, still felt they were uninformed on the issue. The average on a scale of 1-5, was 2.94, showing that most students felt less informed on the issue. However, it also revealed that students are mostly using Twitter and Facebook to find information, and most may not be getting much information or accurate information. Below is a breakdown of the percentages of students that used each of the following media outlets. Courtesy of Syracuse University

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Joel Kaplan, Associate Dean of Professional Graduate Studies in Newhouse at SU, says the media acted appropriately in withholding the tape and with their coverage. If you go back to the original part of the story, I think ESPN and the Post-Standard behaved admirably, Kaplan said. They werent tabloidish, they didnt run with the story: they took a long time looking at it, investigating it, and it did not reach the level they felt satisfied they could publish or broadcast it. Thats what you want your news organization to do: not just run with the story because they heard a rumor. He does say though that he believes ESPN could have acted a bit differently when it did break the story Nov.17 without mentioning that existence of the tape, I think the mistake ESPN made was that they ran with the story where they should have gone to their voice experts or whatever to see was this tape legitimate and then did the story all at once. There was no hurry to go with the story right then. I think thats a legitimate complaint about ESPN. He also says, The complaint that journalists should turn the tape over to the police and the district attorney, thats not what journalists do.

Reactions to Administration

Joel Kaplan courtesy of Syracuse University

There are also mixed reviews as to how SU administration has handled the scandal. In the same student survey, more than 95 percent of students said they agreed with the universitys actions. The Daily Orange reported that Cantor gave three reasons to keep the 2005 report private: to protect the privacy of the people in the investigation, not interfere with the current investigation by the authorities and because another law firm is conducting an external review of the 2005 investigation. SU also took criticism for their actions concerning the first investigation. Many say SU did not act appropriately because it did not go to the police, and because it used an in-house law firm to do the investigation. The Post-Standard said, Jeffrey J. Mueller of the risk consultancy firm Granite Intelligence, who is a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, said SU and its legal counsel should have contacted law enforcement officials. William Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County district attorney, told the Post-Standard, You would be hard pressed to say that the thing was investigated the way that it should have been in 2005, As to why SU didnt find the tape until 2011, I didnt see anything in the report indicating he [Davis] was asked [about the tape]. On Thursday, he held a news conference saying Bobby Davis and Michael Langs allegations are credible but that he couldnt corroborate Zach Tomasellis allegations. Either way, Fitzpatrick says the stature on the case has run out and it is up to federal authorities to pursue the allegations further. That in turn brought criticism of Fitzpatrick from lawyers quoted in the Post-Standard, who said hed overstepped his bounds. This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Syracuse Man Calls For Mistrial Due to Police Brutality Fake IDs Are Kids Play

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