By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Apr 3, 2006 : 11:24 pm ET
DURHAM -- After a weeklong media frenzy, District Attorney Mike Nifong switched gears Monday and went mum about the alleged gang rape of an exotic dancer by members of the Duke University lacrosse team.
Still predicting there would be no charges in the case until next week at the earliest, Nifong said he would grant no more interviews until he has something new to announce.
The chief prosecutor said he had devoted more than 40 hours to reporters in recent days, adding that it was time "to turn my attention to some of the other matters that the citizens of Durham expect me to handle on their behalf.
"At this point, all of the information that can appropriately be discussed at this juncture of the investigation has already been disseminated through multiple media outlets, and any further discussion of that information by me would accomplish no legitimate purpose," Nifong said in a written statement. "Consequently, I find that I must henceforth decline to grant any additional requests for interviews, either on or off camera, to interested media outlets."
Nifong said the volume of media attention came as a surprise to him, surpassing even that given to the Michael Peterson murder case in its early stages.
The Peterson trial, in which the Durham novelist was convicted of killing his wife and sentenced to life in prison, was broadcast nationally gavel-to-gavel in 2003. However, the degree of national media interest picked up gradually and did not instantly soar to high levels, as it has done with the Duke case.
"When I first learned of this assault and the circumstances under which it allegedly occurred, I expected that it would receive some media attention," Nifong said of the alleged lacrosse incident Monday. "Unfortunately, I greatly underestimated both the breadth and the depth of the media interest that would ensue."
Fending off a persistent local television reporter who pleaded Monday for only two minutes of camera time, Nifong said he already had done some 70 interviews about the alleged rape -- 10 times more than he was asked to do even in death-penalty murder cases of past decades.
Meanwhile, several defense lawyers indicated Monday they would release the results of DNA tests conducted on bodily samples taken from 46 Duke lacrosse players, even though Nifong pledged earlier to keep the results confidential. He has also said the test results won't determine whether anyone is charged in the case.
According to Nifong, the State Bureau of Investigation in Raleigh is expected to finish the DNA tests this week.
By law, the results must be given to the Duke students or their lawyers -- or both -- whether or not Nifong consents to release them. It then would be up to the defense attorneys whether or not to make them public.
Police have said in court documents that the DNA tests would identify which lacrosse players raped the exotic dancer. She claimed there were three, all of them white.
Defense lawyers contend, on the other hand, that their clients will be vindicated by the tests because no sexual attack occurred.
Nifong faces off in a May Democratic primary election against two contenders for his job: former Durham Assistant District Attorney Freda Black and Keith Bishop. There are no Republican candidates.
Bishop said Monday he was "concerned about whether this is being politicized, whether Nifong and his group are just playing the public. He might have rushed out prematurely with information about this, responding to criticism that the DA's Office moves too slowly."
Black said in a prepared statement that "any act of sexual violence is intolerable," and she vowed to prosecute such offenses "to the fullest extent of the law" if elected.
But Black added that she wasn't privy to details of the lacrosse investigation and could not comment specifically. In addition, Black said public statements about the case might present a conflict of interest for her.
"If my campaign is successful, I may end up handling this case and I don't want to jeopardize my ability to do so effectively and fairly by commenting without all the facts in hand," the candidate said in her statement.
Nifong: Defense Attorneys 'Don't Know What My Timeline Is'
UPDATED: 1:19 pm EDT May 3, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. -- Within the next couple of weeks, a second set of DNA test results could be back and a third Duke lacrosse player could be indicted in connection with rape allegations made by an exotic dancer.
It was back to business Wednesday for Durham County's lead prosecutor, who held off opponents in Tuesday's primary election to remain district attorney.
Mike Nifong, who received 45 percent of the vote, has been at the center of a media storm surrounding allegations that the dancer was raped and beaten by three members of Duke University's men's lacrosse team at a party in March.
Members of the Durham community, as well as defense attorneys representing lacrosse players, have criticized the district attorney, saying he spoke too soon and too publicly about key facts in the investigation, and that he was pushing the investigation forward for political gain.
In recent weeks, however, Nifong has remained relatively silent about the investigation, but told WRAL on Wednesday that he feels as strongly now about prosecuting the case now as he did when the allegations were first made.
"I'm confident a sexual assault took place in that house," Nifong said, echoing a statement he made earlier on in the investigation.
Nifong also spoke of reaction to the case, saying much of what has been published has been negative. He said much of that reaction is not based on fact and pointed to details of recent legal filings filed by defense attorney Kirk Osborn, who represents Reade Seligmann -- one of two players charged with rape.
"By leaking things out like this, they can keep the case in the headlines -- see all these trucks that are still around here waiting for something to happen -- and kind of frame the case their own way," Nifong said. "And say thinks like, 'according to my timeline' -- which of course, they don't know what my timeline is."
On Monday, Osborn filed several motions, including one that called for Nifong to recuse himself from the case. Osborn wrote that the district attorney has ignored facts that will clear Seligmann, such as time-stamped photos of the party, cell phone records and ATM surveillance photos, and was using the investigation to bolster his chances for election.
Last month, defense attorneys also publicly stated that DNA samples taken from 46 Duke lacrosse athletes cleared the players, but Nifong hinted on Wednesday that there may be more to the DNA tests than defense attorneys are sharing.
"The fact they're making statements about what reports are saying, and not actually showing the reports, should in and of itself raise some red flags," Nifong said.
Shortly after Nifong received the DNA test results from the State Bureau of Investigation, he ordered a second set of more sophisticated tests that the SBI crime lab was not certified to perform.
In Wednesday's interview with WRAL, Nifong said the tests were ordered because the SBI suggested them.
Nifong also said the case could go to trial as early as the fall, but said he expected a trial next spring because of all the motions that are expected to be filed in the case.