Duke Case Prosecutor Says He Will Resign

[BettorsChat]

By AARON BEARD
AP
RALEIGH, N.C. (June 15) - Facing the loss of his law license, a tearful Mike Nifong said Friday he will resign as district attorney, more than a year after he obtained rape indictments against three Duke University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.

"My community has suffered enough," Nifong said from the witness stand at his ethics trial on allegations that he violated rules of professional conduct in his handling of the case.

The North Carolina State Bar said Nifong withheld DNA test results from the players' defense attorneys, lied to the court and bar investigators, and made misleading and inflammatory comments about the three athletes, who were cleared of charges they raped a stripper at a team party in March 2006.

Nifong said he did not make all the mistakes alleged by the bar, "but they are my mistakes."

"It has become increasingly apparent, during the course of this week, in some ways that it might not have been before, that my presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice," Nifong said.

Nifong started in the Durham County prosecutor's office nearly three decades ago as a volunteer attorney fresh out of law school. Appointed district attorney in 2005, he was in the middle of his first election as a candidate for the office when a 28-year-old woman told police she had been raped and beaten in a bathroom by three men at a party.

His resignation announcement came at the conclusion of a brutal afternoon of testimony, during which Nifong mixed expressions of remorse with proclamations of ignorance as he attempted to defend his actions. Nifong stunned even his own attorneys with the news, who said they had no idea what their client had planned.

"It is not fair for the people of my community to be represented by someone who is not held in high esteem by either the members of the community or the members of the profession," Nifong said. "I will go to my grave being associated with this case. And that's OK. I don't have a problem with that."

His soft-spoken statements were barely audible in the courtroom, where observers leaned forward in their chairs as they struggled to hear Nifong through his tears. But the families of cleared players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans watched with little emotion, and Evans' attorney rejected Nifong's attempt to take responsibility.

"It was an obvious cynical ploy to save his law license, and his apology to these people is far too little and comes far too late," defense lawyer Joseph Cheshire said.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who in April said the three athletes were "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse," declined to comment. Gov. Mike Easley, who appointed Nifong to the job and will be called on to pick his replacement, also had no comment, a spokeswoman said.

[BettorsChat]

Boo Fucking Who

[BettorsChat]

Former Duke Prosecutor Mike Nifong Disbarred

Will Not Appeal
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06/16/2007 - Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been disbarred after being found guilty of a battery of ethics violations for his handling of the Duke Lacrosse investigation, a North Carolina Bar disciplinary committee announced Saturday evening.

Nifong said through his attorney that he waives all right to appeal the decision and will step down.

The North Carolina Bar panel ruling on Nifong's disbarment said the decision was unanimous.

Before the panel announced its punishment, Nifong said he believed disbarment would be appropriate and that he planned to waive all rights to appeal the findings of the bar panel, his attorney David Freedman said in court Saturday afternoon.

"He hopes that in light of his accepting his punishing it will restore some of the confidence in the criminal justice system," Freedman said. "You have some semblance of relief when this is all over, regardless of the outcome."

Nifong's punishment could have ranged from a written reprimand to disbarment. He already announced Friday his intention to resign as district attorney.

With that, the long saga of what was once known as the Duke Lacrosse rape scandal is over, though a raft of civil lawsuits is expected.

Nifong's conviction was widely anticipated as justice for the three players who were indicted in spring 2006 on charges of rape, kidnapping, and sexual offense.

In April, the three were cleared of all charges and declared innocent by the attorney general of North Carolina.

All three exonerated Duke Lacrosse players -- Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty -- were in the courtroom Saturday with their families. They listened intently as Nifong was found to have behaved unethically, but showed little emotion.

The bar's three-member disciplinary panel unanimously found Nifong guilty of fraud, dishonesty, deceit or misrepresentation; of making false statements of material fact before a judge; of making false statements of material fact before bar investigators, and of lying about withholding exculpatory DNA evidence.

Nifong had been charged with seven counts of violating the rules of professional conduct that govern attorney conduct in North Carolina.

The mood today was a remarkable reversal of the courtroom atmosphere in the early days of the case. Then, the parents of the players sat wide-eyed and stone-faced, occasionally shedding a tear, while the now-disgraced prosecutor moved through the court room smiling and navigated the camera crews outside in the hallway with a grin on his face.

Today in court, Nifong and his wife wept during a recess and held each other, while the players and their families smiled and chatted with easily with one another.

As the first witness to testify in the penalty phase, David Evans Sr., whose son Dave was charged, described being "floored" when he heard Nifong tell the media that the players were not cooperating fully with the investigation.

He described how his family learned of his son's indictment on Dave's graduation day, and testified that his son's job offer from the Wall Street firm J.P. Morgan was withdrawn after the charges were brought. He said he recently "Googled" the phrases "Dave Evans" and "Duke Lacrosse," and that the search turned up more than five million hits.

Evans said his son and the other players "stepped up to the plate'' and cooperated fully with investigators. He said that Nifong has now acknowledged he "crossed the line'' of ethical conduct and "maligned an entire team -- 47 players, their parents, their grandparents.''

David Evans Jr.'s grandfather on his mother's side died of a heart attack last August before the charges were dropped, Evans Sr. said.

"It was very very hard on him,'' Evans Sr. testified. "He took it very, very hard. He couldn't understand. He was consumed with the case. As it moved along he would call several times a day. He'd say, 'Why is this district attorney going forward? Look at all this information? The accuser is not credible. Why isn't the system working?'"

"Our great regret is that [the grandfather] died before the system worked," Evans Sr. said, "before he was found innocent."

In a statement that seemed to both echo and mock Nifong's tearful claim Friday that the case will be associated with him until he goes to his grave, David Evans Sr. told the court that his son, too, "believes that when he dies, people will say he was one of the three Duke Lacrosse players who was accused of rape."

Next up was Colin Finnerty's mother Mary Ellen Finnerty, who said that after 26 years as a parent, learning her son was indicted for rape and kidnapping was "the hardest moment as a mother I have ever had."

"We were in the fight of our lives,'' she said. "We now had to fight to save our son's life. From that day on that was our job as parents. How do you explain to a 10-year-old that her brother has been indicted for rape?'' she asked rhetorically.

When her son's name was finally cleared in the wake of an investigation by North Carolina State Attorney General Roy Cooper, "it was an answer to all our prayers," she said.

"Nobody can give the families back the 14 months we've gone through,'' she said, and began to cry. "Laying in bed at night and saying that they could go to jail for 30 years for a crime they didn't do."

During closing arguments Friday, attorney Doug Brocker of the North Carolina State Bar said Nifong engaged in a "systematic abuse of prosecutorial power and discretion in the Duke Lacrosse case."

"Mr. Nifong did not act as a minister of justice, but as a minister of injustice," Brocker added.

Brocker argued that the central motive for Nifong's decision to prosecute the case was winning a tightly contested election for district attorney. Just after the first indictments in the case, Nifong won a May 2 Democratic primary by a margin of 3 percent.

In his closing statements, Nifong's attorney Dudley Witt admitted that Nifong made committed "egregious mistakes" but said his "was not intentional conduct."

Witt also denied Nifong's use of the case to further any political agenda. He specifically cited Nifong's lack of experience in dealing with the media and argued that Nifong didn't realize until December 2006 that the withheld DNA was significant to the case.

Nifong's nearly-30-year career as a prosecutor ended over the Duke Lacrosse case. During his testimony Friday, Nifong tearfully announced that whatever the bar's choice of punishment he intended to step down as Durham County district attorney.

"My presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice," Nifong said. "It is not fair for the people in my community to be represented by someone who is not held in high esteem by either the members of the community or members of the profession."

Nifong also apologized to the three indicted lacrosse players and their families.

But defense attorney Joe Cheshire dismissed Nifong's contrition as contrived and insincere.

"It's a cynical plot designed to save his law license," said Cheshire, who represents the family of David Evans. "It's a tepid apology far too little, far too late."

Nifong led the prosecution of three Duke Lacrosse players for rape and sexual assault. The case began in March 2006 when woman hired to strip at a team party accused three players of attacking her in a bathroom. In the months that followed, the case fell apart, riddled by a lack of evidence and an accuser who changed her story repeatedly.

From the early days of the case, Nifong was widely criticized for his handling of the matter. On Friday, Nifong admitted to many of the mistakes that had earned him nationwide infamy.

"I think clearly some of the statements I made were improper," Nifong said, admitting that his comments about the case violated the rules of professional conduct. "I take responsibility for the things I have done in this case."

Nifong also admitted that he should have given defense attorneys all available DNA evidence months earlier than he did. He added that despite her changing story, Nifong never pushed the accuser to explain the inconsistencies in her version of events.

Nifong can appeal the bar's decision, but his disbarrment will take effect during the appeals process.

Once Nifong's bar trial concludes, he could still face civil lawsuits from the families of indicted Duke Lacrosse players.

Joe Cheshire, an attorney for the Evans family, said that he expects "excessive civil action" against Nifong.

If his license is suspended or revoked, Nifong loses not only his license, but his livelihood. It's unclear what kind of work, if any, Nifong will do next.

But wherever he goes, Nifong expects the words "Duke Lacrosse" will follow him.

"I will go to my grave being associated with this case," said Nifong. "That's okay. I took the responsibility on myself."


By LARA SETRAKIAN and CHRIS FRANCESCANI

[TwoTonTony]

fuck nifong.....disbarment at a minimum!!