Posted on 05/19/2006 3:23:40 PM PDT by FlowJo
New DA must silence the music As Jim Hardin Jr.'s replacement, Mike Nifong won't have time for his CDs Originally published in: The Herald-Sun Sunday, April 24, 2005 Edition: Final
BY JOHN STEVENSON jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Some call him the music man.
Assigned for the last several years to negotiate with defense lawyers in traffic court, senior Assistant District Attorney Mike Nifong begins each business day on a high note.
It might be a classical concerto, a bluesy drawl, a country croon or a hard-rock acoustical shakedown.
The choices are seemingly limitless. Nifong says he owns more than 5,000 CDs.
But whatever the genre of music on any given day, Durham lawyers know the routine.
Once they hear Nifong's speakers crank up in a small office on the second floor of the courthouse, it's time to get going. The music is like the starting flag at a NASCAR race, a signal that serious business is about to begin.
"When the music starts, the negotiations begin," Nifong said in an interview last week.
"I love to listen to music," he added. "If I can get my music fix during the day, I am a more obedient husband in the evening."
The tradition is about to end, however.
On Wednesday, Nifong will be sworn in as Durham's interim district attorney. He will replace Jim Hardin Jr., who takes office as a special Superior Court judge the same day.
Both were appointed to their new positions by Gov. Mike Easley last week. Both have two decades of experience as prosecutors.
Nifong is realistic. He knows he will no longer have time for a daily music fix, at least not while he is working.
As chief prosecutor, Nifong will have to worry not only about speeding tickets, red-light violations andso forth. All of the thousands of criminal cases that pass through the District Attorney's Office each year, from shoplifting to murder, will be under his purview.
"It's going to be way too busy for the music," he acknowledged.
Still, Nifong claims to be eager for the challenge that awaits him.
A Wilmington native and one-time social worker, he knew when he graduated from UNC's law school in 1978 that prosecutorial work was his calling. In fact, he knew it much earlier than that.
"I come from a long line of law-abiding citizens," he said.
Nifong's father was what they called a "revenuer," an agent who tracked down moonshiners in the backwaters of the state.
"I used to go with him to blow up stills," Nifong recalled. "You'd hear these big explosions. Things would fly up in the air through the woods. It was exciting."
There also was a practical, businesslike side to Nifong's calling as a prosecutor.
"I always knew I wanted to be a litigator," he said. "The DA's office was the only direct path to the courtroom. Everyone knew the best way to get experience was to go into a DA's office."
So when he couldn't find immediate employment after graduating from law school, Nifong told former Durham District Attorney Dan Edwards Jr. he would work for free, just to get some on-the-job training.
He remembers telling Edwards, "If you like my work, you can hire me. If you don't, I will at least have something to put on my resume."
Nifong began his unpaid duties in late October 1978. A month later, he became a per diem employee with no benefits and an annual income of about $11,000. Finally, on April 1, 1979, he was hired as a full-time assistant district attorney.
Back then, the District Attorney's Office had only six assistant prosecutors. Now, there are 13.
A senior assistant like Nifong makes over $90,000 a year.
Nifong has seen it all in his 26 years on the job. He has prosecuted such diverse cases as embezzlement, consumer fraud, rape and first-degree murder.
In the 1980s, he won a conviction against James Pope for killing a pizza deliveryman and obtained the death penalty against him. The death penalty later was overturned by the state Supreme Court, but Pope remains behind bars.
Nifong claims he has never been threatened by anyone he prosecuted. Conversely, he was once thanked by a convicted rapist.
"He came to see me after he got out of prison," said Nifong. "He told me his life was really out of control, and I made him face up to it. He said he was a better man as a result.
"I always tried to treat my defendants with respect," Nifong added. "Of everyone I've tried, I could count the monsters on one hand. Everyone else was a regular person who had an anger-management problem or just snapped somehow. I never thought it was my job to make them less than human. I think treating people with dignity is an important part of being a DA."
Nifong's life changed radically in April 1999, when he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and had to undergo surgery followed by radiation treatment.
"That really changed my perspective on a lot of things," he said. "It made continuing as a trial lawyer impossible."
It was then that Nifong withdrew from the courtroom, began negotiating traffic cases and started listening to music on the job.
With his unanticipated appointment as Durham's interim district attorney, Nifong's life now has reached another abrupt turning point.
"I was stunned," he said of the appointment. "It all of a sudden emerged like an iceberg through the fog, and you realize you're headed right for it."
If he wants to keep the chief prosecutor's job, he will have to run for election next year. He hasn't yet made up his mind.
"I'm not a very political person," said Nifong. "Being a politician is kind of confining in some ways. You can speak your mind more easily when you're not a politician. I've been known to speak my mind.
"The DA's job is nothing I would have sought or would have run for before," he said. "But I like to finish what I start. So there is a possibility I will run to keep my new job. Right now, I'm a lot more concerned about next week than next year. I've got some pretty big shoes to fill."
Through it all, he is maintaining his sense of humor.
"I've already told the staff I'm not Jim Hardin," he said. "I told them he's a lot nicer person than I am."
©Copyright by The Durham Herald Company. Original copyright 2005. Copyright renewed 2006. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms
Loved that one!!!!
"I'm not a very political person," said Nifong. "Being a politician is kind of confining in some ways. You can speak your mind more easily when you're not a politician. I've been known to speak my mind.
And now we've discovered he lies too! First he tells us there's the possibility condoms were used when his victim has already said they weren't. Then he tells us the first DNA test will prove guilt, when in fact it had to have shown semen from someone other than the LAX team!
He's a perfect politician. He lies when it's easier to tell the truth.
Someone should "Fudruck" Nifong!
Interesting Lacrosse game tomorrow--Chaminade vs. Delbarton--I wish I could go.
He's a perfect politician. He lies when it's easier to tell the truth.
__________________________________________________________
This entire case was started so he could promote HIS POLITICAL CAREER!
Where is the game?
Chaminade
I guarantee a media show...unless they've figured out Nifong is off his rocker. Reade has twin brothers playing for Delbarton.
Isn't great that this DA has made rape 'respectful' again? Shows how so many have forgotten the very credible rape allegations against the Sink Emperor himself.
Which boy went to Chaminade?
Finnerty
Freshman at Delbarton, Varsity at Chaminade.
Rubber Gloves but No-Condoms (if you read the transcript that was picked up at yesterday's hearing)
So he comes from a long line of scumsuckers. Why am I not surprised.
L
me neither
It wasn't 40 guys. It was 20. No wait. It was 4. No, 3...eh, she'll figure it out by trial time. There's still the matter of the missing mustache.
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