Posted on 05/01/2007 8:52:44 AM PDT by freespirited
The three Duke lacrosse players once charged with rape are off the hook. But the man who brought the case against them, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, faces a trial of his own in June.
The North Carolina Bar Association has charged Nifong with mishandling the Duke case, violating rules of ethical conduct by withholding evidence, lying to a judge and making inappropriate comments about the case to the press.
Even Nifong's friends expect the punishment to be severe -- anything from suspended his law license to permanent disbarment. Either way, Nifong would lose his seat as district attorney.
"Given the climate, the way the AG came out& I can't envision a scenario where he doesn't end up losing his license or having it suspended," said Bob Nauseef, a criminal defense lawyer in Durham.
Nauseef, who has been in touch with Nifong over the past week, says the district attorney is focused on preparing his defense. Even so, Nifong is mindful of the fact that he could soon be out of a job.
"There are wheels in motion for life after the DA's office, if not life after the law," Nauseef told ABC News.
"He's got some other things in the hopper. I've heard he's looking at teaching jobs. It wouldn't surprise me if he wrote a book."
"He'll be prepared to deal with any outcome that comes from the Bar," Nifong's lawyer David Freedman told ABC News. "That being said, he's a fighter."
Questions Raised Early Defense attorneys for the accused Duke players and other critics began questioning Nifong's actions after the Duke case first emerged in March 2006. By January 2006 the State Bar had charged Nifong with "conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" and "conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice."
Months later, during an April 11 press conference marking an end to the Duke lacrosse case, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper called Nifong an overreaching "rogue prosecutor" who displayed "bravado" in a "rush to condemn."
Nauseef saw the attorney general's comments as overly harsh -- a move to curry political support and popularity.
"I agree that there were mistakes made, but I was pretty surprised by the strength of what they came out with," Nauseef said.
"It was pretty scathing. It's politics."
Should Nifong Resign? Many of Nifong's critics have called for him to step down as district attorney before his ethics trial. Beth Brewer, a Durham citizen and political rival of Nifong's, filed court documents asking Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson to remove Nifong from office.
Other district attorneys have distanced themselves from Nifong, pointing to his conduct as an example of what prosecutors should not do with a case.
"Mr. Nifong has not brought respect to our profession," said Josh Marquis, a prosecutor and ranking member of the National District Attorneys' Association. "Some of his actions have brought great disrepute on the profession of prosecution."
Nifong does have supporters, among them prosecutor Stormy Ellis. Ellis, who works for Nifong in the Durham district attorney's office, questions the critics.
"Everyone was on the bandwagon at first, criticizing the lacrosse team. Then the winds shifted and everyone's on the bandwagon to beat Mike [Nifong] up," she told ABC News.
"It makes me wonder how they've handled cases, how they've dealt with adversity in their own cases& it's all Monday morning quarterbacking."
In defending Nifong, Ellis also faulted his critics for ignoring his roughly 30 years of public service.
"He's a good man and one of the most honest people I know. People fail to look at the man who convicted numerous criminals, who dismissed numerous cases, who had an open-file policy before it was the law," she said.
"I'm shocked that he has been tainted as a 'rogue prosecutor.' It scares me to think that one case can mar you for the rest of your life."
For now Nifong has no intention of leaving office, his lawyer told ABC News. But if he is found guilty at the June 12 hearing Nifong could be left with no choice other than to leave his seat. The entire trial including the sentencing phase is expected to last four days.
Until then, Nifong can only wait as the drumbeat for his removal keeps pounding.
"He's definitely worried about what's going to happen," Nauseef told ABC News. "There's that feeling that he'll be made an example of."
The only book he writes should be from prison.
Let the games begin.
Not severe enough.
I bet the Duke Lacrosse players can relate to that...
Pride goeth before the fall.
He’ll probably get a job on the Duke faculty. They’ll give him immediate and irrevocable tenure.
}:-)4
At Duke University, perhaps?
Not everyone.
I’m wondering if we discover that Nifong was being blackmailed by the accuser.
I heard someone say a few nights ago that in North Carolina, the District Attorney isn't required to have a valid law license. It is only required to practice before the court, not to hold office. Another stupid North Carolina law that needs fixing!
Moose4 by :01
There’s still one poor sorry SOB (Frank Fuster) rotting in a Flori-duh prison for imaginary crimes from one of Janet Reno’s witchcraft “ritual abuse” trials of the 80s. The job of DA is a magnet for psychopaths like Nifong, Reno, Ronnie Earle and this clown Fitzgerald, and needs to be abolished. NOBODY should have any sort of a career or money incentive to put people in prison, ever. It’s past time to bag the entire “adversarial” system of justice and either adopt something like the French inquisitorial system or, equivalently, put the jury in charge of the proceedings.
Anyone know who Wendy Murphy is? Big femo-nazi lawyer here in Boston. She thinks the parents of the players got to the accuser and the other dancer and paid them off. She’s still convinced they’re guilty and that some of the other players were witnesses and will eventually open up with the truth. She’s so hung up on this case. She thinks every accuser is telling the truth.
But I will bet that Stormy was quite happy to see Scooter Libby railroaded for one memory lapse - and thereby marked for life. That's okay, huh, Stormy?
I think a good start would be having him play goalie during a Duke Lacrosse game practice.
Without pads or helmet or protection of any sort, of course.
If he loses the trial the civil lawsuits will bankrut him.
He deserves it for ruining their lives. All his old convictions now need to be looked at.
If these lacrosse players could not have afforded bail they would have been sitting IN JAIL this whole time!!! And if they could not affor dlawyers they would have probably been railroaded all the way through a trial, and possibly convicted by a racist jury (think: O.J.)
Civil suits from the falsely accused should bankrupt and ruin Nifong.
Up in MA the Amirault’s spent years in prison after being accused of sexual abuse in their day care center. Some of the kids said (after much coaching) they were taken up in a spaceship and raped with large knives. One of the Amiraults just got out last year or the year before. The DAs, Scott Harshberger and Martha Coakley, both went on to become Massachusetts AGs. Coakley also prosecuted the Nanny Case.
“friends expect the punishment to be severe — anything from suspended his law license to permanent disbarment.”
I can’t imagine that all the punishment Nifong would get is losing his job. His crime is akin to any other white collar crime. He didn’t do any physical harm to people other that ruining their lives.
It scares me to think that one case can mar you for the rest of your life.
With just one case that bastard wanted to destroy the lives of 3 innocent students.
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