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If Nifong gets out of this unscathed, I will have lost faith.

As SirJohn advises, "be prepared to lose faith."

I lost faith a couple of years ago when the facts came to light in the infamous capital murder conviction of Alan Gell here in North Carolina.

Gell, who was a petty punk, spent NINE YEARS on deathrow before it came to light that the TWO prosecutors who handled his case withheld a BOATLOAD of exculpatory evidence. A BARGEload. Most of these things end with some uncertainty, but the evidence that the prosecutors buried provided overwhelming and unarguable proof of Gell's innocence.

The prosecutors not only did not fairly consider the evidence, but they hid it, did not turn it over in discovery.

The prosecutors were standing by for this completely innocent guy to get the needle. When all this came out, he was given a retrial and quickly acquitted. The prosecutors ultimately received a mild rebuke.

There are many N&O stories on this unbelieveable matter. I grabbed one almost at random that summarizes the main points.

http://www.newsobserver.com/208/story/232426.html

I am a strong supporter of the death penalty, but I was completely horrified at this travesty of justice. When it comes to prosecutors, yea, I already lost my faith.

I just read up on that last night. A travesty.

In four decades of disciplining lawyers, the State Bar has punished only two prosecutors for withholding evidence. Both were put on a form of probation, in which they could continue to practice law as long as they broke no more laws and consulted with a mentor.

Nifong? LOL.