Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

DAs Call for Prosecutor in Duke Lacrosse Case to Step Down
ABC News ^ | December 30, 2006 | LARA SETRAKIAN

Posted on 12/29/2006 10:07:41 PM PST by rawhide

Dec. 29, 2006 — In yet another moral blow to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for the prosecutor to step down from the Duke lacrosse case.

The group, which represents district attorneys from across North Carolina, said in a statement that "it is in the interest of justice and the effective administration of criminal justice that Mr. Nifong immediately withdraw and recuse himself from the prosecution."

"It's extraordinarily unusual and it means a great deal," said Joshua Marquis, a district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore.

The district attorney group also called for the case to be reassigned and handed over to "another prosecutorial authority."

The statement was prompted by charges of ethics violations against Nifong filed Thursday by the North Carolina bar. Those allegations accuse Nifong of making inappropriate comments about the case in a series of press interviews early in the proceedings.

"As prosecutors, we do not try our cases in the media. We do not file charges frivolously," Marquis, who is active in the National District Attorneys Association, told ABC News.

"I do not know what the merit of the charges are, but Mr. Nifong has not brought respect to our profession," Marquis said. "Some of his actions have brought great disrepute on the profession of prosecution."

Under North Carolina state law, there is no rule requiring Nifong to recuse himself from the case, even though he has been charged with ethics violations. But Nifong's critics — including defense attorneys for the three indicted Duke lacrosse players — say Nifong should step down because the ethics charges create a glaring and unavoidable conflict of interest. A prosecutor, they argue, cannot make fair and independent decisions when he himself is in legal hot water.

"My opinion is that this crystallizes the conflict of interest," Thomas Metzloff, a member of the North Carolina bar and professor at Duke Law School, told ABC News.

No sooner than three months from now, Nifong will stand trial before a panel drawn from the bar's disciplinary hearing commission. If that panel finds Nifong guilty of misconduct, he would be subject to punishment ranging from private admonishment to disbarment.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asshat; duke; dukelax; durham; durhamdirtbag; nifong
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220 ... 361-369 next last
To: Raycpa

We have only seen the tip of a very dirty iceberg.

Who is Nifong protecting other than himself? the missing police chief? drug lords? They must be pretty powerful.


181 posted on 12/30/2006 4:44:25 PM PST by ladyjane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 179 | View Replies]

To: TommyDale
"North Carolina is the most corrupt legal system and government in America."

Oh no. Not even close. NJ is the most corrupt, followed by PA, then LA, then IL. NC is up there with MI, but not even in the same league as New Jersey corruption.

182 posted on 12/30/2006 4:49:12 PM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Protect the Bill of Rights

Hint: starts with "P" and ends with "y"
I'll buy one vowel and a double "s"

Possibly?


183 posted on 12/30/2006 4:56:36 PM PST by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: Ready4Freddy

Oh, you are B A D.

And I love it!


184 posted on 12/30/2006 5:04:24 PM PST by Howlin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 178 | View Replies]

To: ladyjane

The prostitution industry is a protected industry in that area. That means there are organized criminal elements (drugs, arms) and corrupt officials on the take.

(Sure, they bust hispanic brothels and streetwalkers. Tokens)

The question is how far up the ladder does the corruption go? All the way to Raleigh?


185 posted on 12/30/2006 5:08:08 PM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 181 | View Replies]

To: Ready4Freddy
I herd that Saddam's lawyer complained that his client was 'Nifonged'. ;>)

Now that is funny.
186 posted on 12/30/2006 5:54:20 PM PST by JLS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 178 | View Replies]

To: abb
From WRAL:

Duke D.A.'s Hearing May be Months Away

RALEIGH, N.C. — By the time the prosecutor in the Duke University lacrosse case is tried on ethics charges, the sexual assault indictment he sought against three players may have been long since dismissed.

If the woman who claims the players sexually assaulted her at a party can't identify them at a February hearing, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has said, he will abandon the divisive case.

It will be weeks, if not months, after that before Nifong defends himself against charges that he violated four rules of professional conduct by making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes, said Thomas Lunsford, executive director of the state bar.

The bar association, which filed the ethics charges Thursday, will not schedule Nifong's trial-like hearing for at least three months, Lunsford said Friday.

187 posted on 12/30/2006 6:05:28 PM PST by NCjim (The more I use Windows, the more I love UNIX)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 186 | View Replies]

To: JoanOfArk

I happen to know that the Wake County DA office is just as bad as the Durham County DA office. I have personally witnessed people prosecuted for non-crimes.


188 posted on 12/30/2006 6:11:51 PM PST by TommyDale (Iran President Ahmadinejad is shorter than Tom Daschle!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

Yep the internet is fabulous. Thanks for the links.


189 posted on 12/30/2006 6:31:20 PM PST by JLS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: Tom D.
Once his license is suspended he becomes disqualified to be the DA or at least functioning as DA. He will either resign or get removed from office.

Nah. He will be off the case but not suspended. He will win the next election and remain DA. (See my post #23)

190 posted on 12/30/2006 6:41:23 PM PST by Northern Alliance
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: Mark was here
My son is a student at Duke and knows some of the LAX players. You are mistaken in your characterization. Mary Katherine Ham wrote an article that was posted on the thread yesterday regarding some stats on the team:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1759575/posts?q=1&&page=401

"1. Guess what the graduation rate is for the Duke lacrosse team. No really, go for it. Hazard a guess. A team at an elite private university is still full of a bunch of numbskull jocks, right? And, we all know what kind of guys the Duke lacrosse players are. The very even-handed mainstream media has treated us to a picture of them as non-stop, beer-guzzling Neanderthals who spend all their time using Mommy’s and Daddy’s Northeastern, lily-white riches to find new and exciting ways to exploit local minorities. Well, those meat-headed cavemen have a 100-percent graduation rate. One hundred percent. You read that right. That’s three percent higher than the overall student-athlete graduation rate, at a university with one of the highest student-athlete graduation rates in the nation. Only one other men’s sport at Duke—cross country—can match that rate.

2. Did you know they didn’t just graduate? Many of them even distinguished themselves academically? This from the report of the Lacrosse Ad Hoc Review Committee, the group of Duke faculty charged with deciding whether or not to retain the lacrosse program in the wake of the rape case. In 2005, twenty seven members of the lacrosse team, more than half, made the Atlantic Coast Conference's Academic Honor Roll, more than any other ACC lacrosse team. 9 Between 2001 and 2005, 146 members of the lacrosse team made the Academic Honor Roll, twice as many as the next ACC lacrosse team. The lacrosse team's academic performance generally is one of the best among all Duke athletic teams. Professors described lacrosse players in their classes as “polite students” who “took academic obligations seriously.”

3. Most of the lacrosse players are middle-class, suburban kids, not uber-rich socialites..."

191 posted on 12/30/2006 7:30:09 PM PST by luv2ski
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 153 | View Replies]

To: Northern Alliance

2010 may be jumping the gun a little.


192 posted on 12/30/2006 8:00:11 PM PST by Sue Perkick (Just a water spider on the pond of life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 190 | View Replies]

To: CFC__VRWC

"In yet another moral blow..."

I think it was supposed to say, "mortal."


193 posted on 12/30/2006 8:06:02 PM PST by Guilty by Association (Stop the Durham FARCE perpetrated by the FRAUD Attorney!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: Protect the Bill of Rights
The question is how far up the ladder does the corruption go?

It must go pretty high. It's got the chief of police so anxiety ridden that he hasn't been seen for 8 months.

194 posted on 12/30/2006 8:06:57 PM PST by ladyjane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 185 | View Replies]

To: Sue Perkick

The point is getting pulled off the case is the best possible outcome for him short of a victory in court, which is not possible. He will remain a hero to the black voter, and there is no reason he could not stay on indefinitely as DA or run for another, higher office, like mayor.


195 posted on 12/30/2006 8:28:47 PM PST by Northern Alliance
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 192 | View Replies]

To: ladyjane

I thought we may have missed his funeral.


196 posted on 12/30/2006 8:37:31 PM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 194 | View Replies]

To: JLS

Tom Delay and Scooter Libby have been "Nifonged" for real....

Is anyone keeping a list of scumbag politicized 'Rat prosecutors who need to be disbarred and disgraced? So many Demagogues seem to have no conscience or scruples, even though they love to tell us all how "progressive" and idealistic they are.....

A start would be:

(TX) Ronnie Earle's misconduct in the Tom Delay case

(DC) Patrick Fitzgerald's misconduct in the Pflamegate case

(NC) Mike Nifong's most obscene misconduct in this Duke case

(FL) who's the scumbag prosecutor who's been hounding Rush Limbaugh over painkillers and viagra, etc.?


197 posted on 12/30/2006 9:01:18 PM PST by Enchante (Chamberlain Democrats embraced by terrorists and America-haters worldwide!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 186 | View Replies]

To: Ready4Freddy

Yep , Nifonged is Right ! I Can't Wait for Nifong to be Nifonged ! LOL !


198 posted on 12/30/2006 9:14:21 PM PST by DvdMom (Impeach Nifong -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 178 | View Replies]

To: Jezebelle

Thanks , for the clarification ( With Judge Stephens you could definitly see a type of nepotism ) . Judge Smith will throw the case out , hopefully !


199 posted on 12/30/2006 9:17:17 PM PST by DvdMom (Impeach Nifong -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 157 | View Replies]

To: Enchante

Exactly and sadly a natural extention of a party that rarely can get anything it wants via the legislative process. Because of this the Dims have turned to the courts to beat the will of the people. A natural next step is politicizing prosecutions. It is a sad sad reflection on Dims.


200 posted on 12/30/2006 9:32:04 PM PST by JLS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 197 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220 ... 361-369 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson