As I understand it, the state lab looked for DNA the simplest, and cheapest, way, and found nothing from the lax players.
Nifong then opted for a more sensitive but also much more expensive test, Y-STR testing; which revealed maybe much more than he wanted to find out--multiple DNA donors (but again, none from the players).
Someone who knows much more than I about DNA testing said he shot himself in the foot by ordering the more expensive tests; he may have been desperate by then to find SOMETHING; but instead of players' DNA all he found was more exculpatory evidence--which he didn't want and didn't turn over to the defense.
Good summation of the point.
I do not know for certain but it defies imagination that the State Lab could find none of this other DNA stuff. Moreover, if in fact the State Lab could not find it, then it seems to me that any crimes where the finding or not finding of DNA at a crime scene played a significant role in a prosecution would have grounds to appeal based on the lack of competence of the State Lab. This is a Catch-22 situation. This crime could make LE in (and the tax payers of) North Carolina wish that Nifong had never been born.