Obviously he should do an honest job rather than a political job. But for him personally, he now has nothing to lose by going forward. If he backs down, he has no chance at re-election.
I have been thinking that the community interest will actually be well served by a trial. I think Duke supporters can be counted on to finance the defense and no defendant will have serious jeopardy, even in Durham, although, of course, they will be traumatized and tainted. But the community needs to SEE that there is no case. Of course, they will still howl racism, coverup, etc.
I don't know if the players would want to be tried in Durham. I don't believe they would receive a fair trial- keep in mind that most students would be in the jury pool (and may be excluded), since traditionally jury pools are selected from voter registration and driver license lists, and most students are license to drive and registered to vote where their parents live. Most working people tend to avoid serving on juries, so who's left? A pool made up disproportionately of the underclass, many of whom strongly resent Duke and its students. Did you see the community forum? A question about why the accuser wasn't flown to Wake or elsewhere because Duke's hospital would tainted the DNA sample was taken seriously by the crowd. That is your jury pool.