Why would Nifong want to speed things up? He was stalling and delaying and Stephens and Titus were playing right along with him.
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IMO, something transpired in the background.
I posted some stuff on here about this same Durham DA's office, having an actual lawsuit filed against them for Judge-shopping (from the N&O arhives). They moved to settle that case before it was heard. The agreement was to have a group of people (representing both sides) review how Judges were assigned to cases (via scheduling) and have that group work towards a resolution.
I'm just saying a number of things could've happened including, in front of a Judge, the Defense attorneys could have advised the sitting Judge and Nifong they were making official Federal Civil rights violations (or some Federal claim) motions and asking the Federal Gov't to intervene in the case. It could've been something else, BUT Nifong didn't relinquish a tool in his arsenal without good reason.
I think everyone here would agree - Nifong or a Judge involved in the case must have felt strong pressure (or felt they were vunerable) from some arena - for Nifong to up and relinquish a tool that DA's office has been brandishing for years and years.
To me it is real simple. If you are getting away with something like say the DA controlling the schedule and want to keep getting away with it, you best not use that stick against defendents with the funds to take you to federal court.
Now, I doubt Nifong figured that out. I suspect that others around the court house and maybe the other DAs in the state, pressured him to not risk the right of schedule for all of them against these defendents with resources in this weak case where a federal judge just might be looking for any excuse to overturn in the event of any conviction.