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The News & Observer

Published: Mar 19, 2007 01:37 PM
Modified: Mar 19, 2007 01:46 PM

Nifong seeks dismissal of Bar complaint

By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong provided the N.C. State Bar further evidence for why he thinks some of the ethics charges against him should be dismissed.
In documents filed late Friday, Nifong argues that he did not violate the constitutional rights of the three defendants in the Duke lacrosse case when he did not turn over all the DNA evidence.

Nifong presented several court cases to support his claim that the defendants have not been denied a right to a fair trial because they received the information before a trial date has been set.

The district attorney, who could be disbarred if the State Bar charges are proven, also said that neither state law nor court orders required him to write a report of what he was told by the head of a private lab that did the DNA testing.

The State Bar has said that Nifong first learned of DNA results favorable to the accused on April 10 but instructed the lab director not to list those results on a written report. The Bar said Nifong never gave the players a complete report, as required by the State Bar and state law.

Defense lawyers repeatedly asked for the information.

Nifong turned over 1,844 pages of raw data after a judge ordered him to do so.

Nifong’s filing comes several weeks after he told the Bar he did not mean to do anything wrong in the Duke lacrosse case.

Nifong did not intentionally withhold DNA evidence favorable to the accused, Winston-Salem lawyers David Freedman and Dudley Witt wrote in a 49-page filing submitted to the State Bar on Feb. 28, nor did he mean to create pretrial prejudice when he gave numerous interviews to the news media after an escort service dancer, they added.

As Nifong battles charges of ethical violations brought by the Bar in December and January, the three former Duke lacrosse players fight sexual assault and kidnapping charges.