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.
I'm glad to know you at least check out the facts before prosecuting. That is obviously not the case here in North Carolina. These people are slimy at best.
I'm glad to know you at least check out the facts before prosecuting. That is obviously not the case here in North Carolina. These people are slimy at best.
Excellent article.
The reference to "Law and Order" is especially apt--I despise that show, as it is so unrealistic!!! Perhaps some now in office have learned more in front of the Boob Tube than at the Bar!
The unholy alliance of politics and race is at the heart of this matter and it's really sad. I hope Nifong is disbarred and disgraced and some measure of compensation is given to the real victims, the Lacrosse players by the city of Durham and by Duke University.
Just as clarification, the reason the team hired strippers in the first place was that a right of passage for the rookies each spring was to take them to a striptease bar. As some of the boys were too young and didn't have IDs, the decision was made to recreate the scene at the house on Buchanan.
I am not defending that decision, just providing history that some here don't seem to know. (If you haven't followed this case from the beginning, there is a lot to know.)
Browing through old articles:
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/471043.html
Interesting snippet
Linwood Wilson, an investigator in Nifong's office, said Monday that he discovered the warrant when he ran a routine criminal background check on Elmostafa, the type of check he does for all victims and witnesses the prosecutor's office handles. Wilson said he told Nifong about the warrant, and Nifong told him that the office policy was to serve it.
This guy is a disgrace to my profession.
He's a disgrace to humanity.
aahhh, ringing in, err, banging in the New Year in durham.
those aren't just cheap firecrackers we're hearing.
quite the arsenal tonight-- bagdad would be proud.
happy new year x xx XXX xxxx XX xx!!!
Kennington, in essence, is saying,
Blame Nifong, blame anybody but me and my ilk for our rush to judgment and enthusiasm for the disposability of due process.
Disgusting.
Maybe she and Destine had a close encounter.
There's still the possibility of in-court identification. The defense has a motion pending to prevent Mangum from making an in-court identification. That's a big part of the identification-quash process.
I seriously doubt that the women who showed up were what the boys had in mind. Neither of them is attractive or talented enough to warrant the $200 per hour price tag, especially Mangum, the false accuser, who is one mattress away from street work.
No defense attorney worth a damn puts his client on trial to clear his name. Any trial is always a serious risk of jeopardy for the client and should be avoided whenever possible. There are other ways of clearing the client's name and we are seeing this happening now. We probably will never see Mangum testify, at least not in the case against the boys, and the defense clearly knows that. That's why there is such an all-out attack on what Nifong has done - he's conduct makes him ripe for it, and it's the best AVAILABLE way of getting the truth out.
:> LOL!
I doubt that he's protecting anybody but himself. There's no big conspiracy here - just a rogue DA gone wild.
*GIGGLE*
Yep. Kim said as much herself.
It's not that complicated. Occam's Razor. This is all about Nifong taking care of Nifong. I'm not saying there isn't corruption going on in Durham, but it's not an element here. This is all Nifong's doing.
There's been a concern growing in the back of my mind since the ethics complaint came down, and Stan Goldman touches on it slightly.
If Nifong drops the charges now that the ethics complaints are in play with more to come, and those ethics charges aren't vigorously pursued and the civil rights complaint isn't pursued, will it be argued that the defense tactics were so overwhelming as to force the shutting down of the case, but we're left with bureaucracies who let Nifong skate, such that the defense, rather than the prosecution, is left as an 8-lb. gorilla who forced dismissal of a legitimate case? I don't see that happening, but it's a spin both Nifong and black Durhamites could easily adopt if Nifong is let off the hook. This is why I so much hope that the civil rights matter is investigated and filed.
The entire state criminal procedure is truly a travesty. I still, after nine months, am amazed at what passes for due process in NC.
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