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.
Could this be as simple as pepsionice confusing Judge Smith with Judge Stephens who was Nifong's mentor? People are coming back to this case after some time and remembering bits from this summer and may not realize the case is on its third judge now.
That thought entered my mind as well, and I think that's probably the case.
Old Tory Peterson just cannot stand to be losing this case. She really must have had her hopes set on convicting some innocent white boys out of racial revenge. She ought to be tarred and feathered and have hate crimes lodged against her entire racist personage. She's probably devouring her own spleen and bile in the angst she's suffering as she watches this case disintegrate before her very hateful eyes.
It'd be sweet if some grounds to sue her could be found in the many hateful things she's no doubt said publicly about the boys.
The complaint she filed won't be given the time of day.
She's filing a civil rights complaint for alleged name-calling based on the word of a completely discredited drunk.
This is going NOWHERE.
Please let it be so
Disbarment would be far too light a 'punishment' for this clown.
As for Collin's DC offense, it is too late to add a "hate crime" enhancement. If it was not done at punishment, it would now be double jeopardy to add it.
IIRC the prosecutor in DC specifically declined to pursue a "hate crime" against Finnerty. Beside anything else, VP doesn't have standing to make that complaint.
Where were all these "concerned" DAs during the past 9 months?
They only come forward now, when the case has completely unraveled. North Carolina is the most corrupt legal system and government in America.
mark
Thanks for posting - http://www.ncdistrictattorney.org/ home page for the NC conference of DAs with contact info
"Where were all these "concerned" DAs during the past 9 months? They only come forward now, when the case has completely unraveled"
Patience TD - takes time to review documents etc., etc., and there is such a thing as territory. Bet you don't mow your neighbors grass when it needs cutting....there's protocol.
Just because Nifong is a jerk - these DAs want to be sure they follow all the rules...and that takes time and detail.
"Yeah, I believe:
"1. Nifong was told to get rid of this rape case after Meehan's testimony. Like the tin earred idiot he is he dropped just the rape charge.
"2. So the NC Bar filed its charges publically.
"3. Then Nifong did not act today and drop the charges or get out of this case
"4. So the NC DAs made their letter calling for him to recuse himself public. . . ."
Your timing is off.
The way the process works is that someone filed a grievance against Nifong several months ago. In October, well before the hiding favorable evidence from the defense came to light, the grievance committee of the N.C. State Bar voted to file a complaint against Nifong before the North Carolina Disciplinary Hearing Commission, the body that tries lawyers accused of misdeeds. It took a number of weeks to get the complaint prepared, and it was filed earlier this week.
The grievance committee of the State Bar meets quarterly. It will meet again in January. It may have a grievance before it on the hiding evidence stuff then. More probably the Bar's staff will need additional time to investigate the hidden evidence issue. If that is the case, the grievance committee will have Nifong before it again in April. I expect to see a second complaint coming from to the Disciplinary Hearing Commission dealing with the evidence issue in the summer.
Until something is filed before the Disciplinary Hearing Commission, it is almost never public information. I don't know whether the timing of this complaint was purely coincidental, but the die was cast in October when the State Bar Grievance Committee voted to file a complaint. Consequently, the information that came to light in December about additional wrongdoing could not have been the cause of this complaint being filed.
http://www.ncdistrictattorney.org/mikenifong/your_district_attorney.htm
A life-long resident of North Carolina, District Attorney Mike Nifong was born in Wilmington, where he graduated from New Hanover High School. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Herbert W. Jackson scholarship, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. degree in Political Science in 1971.
Although he had decided on an eventual career in law while still in high school, Nifong worked for his first year after graduation from UNC as a teacher of mathematics and boys’ physical education in Southport. This was followed by a three-year stint as a social worker with the New Hanover County Department of Social Services in Wilmington before he finally enrolled in the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1975.
It was during this period of time that he began his involvement with youth baseball, a passion that has continued for more than three decades.
Upon graduation from the UNC School of Law and admission to the North Carolina Bar in 1978, Nifong sought a position as an Assistant District Attorney on the theory that it would be the best ticket to what he foresaw as a career in litigation. Initially unable to find such a job within the geographic confines of his search area, he volunteered to serve as an unpaid attorney with the District Attorney’s Office in Durham beginning in October 1978. That choice proved to be fortuitous, as District Attorney Dan K. Edwards, Jr., quickly secured funds to pay him on a full-time per diem basis.
When a vacancy finally occurred in a permanent ADA slot in Durham in April, 1979, it was offered to Nifong. He has been there ever since. By June of 1979, he had worked his way up to Superior Court, where he amassed a record of more than three hundred felony jury trials (nearly a quarter of which involved homicides) over the next two decades. In the years since 1999, he has experienced a decrease in courtroom involvement and a corresponding increase in administrative responsibilities and policy development.
In the course of his career as a prosecutor, Nifong has worked for three different District Attorneys, serving as Chief Assistant under both Ronald L. Stephens and James E. Hardin, Jr., both of whom now serve as Superior Court Judges. He was appointed District Attorney for Durham by Governor Mike Easley on April 18, 2005, and was sworn into that position on April 27, 2005.
Mike Nifong lives with his wife Cy Gurney (a regional coordinator for the Guardian ad Litem program), son Bryan (a student at Riverside High School), and dog Tillie (an Australian Shepherd) in a quiet neighborhood in northern Durham County, just across the street from the Eno River State Park. An adult daughter, Sarah, lives in Charlotte.
No. The legal community sees that public opinion has finally turned and an avalanche of criticism (and lawsuits) are aimed at Nifong.
They see what's coming down the pike and want to look like good guys, not sleazy lawyers.
These other DAs know that there was a complaint filed to the NC Bar. After all, they are members. What they are really afraid of is opening the can of worms about misrepresentations to Grand Juries and judges. Now that the cat is out of that bag, they fear many of their own cases being reviewed.
I don't think we can assign ulterior motives to other DAs and tarring them with the Nifong brush.
i.e. you cited the "Bar complaint" and the "case unraveling"...all recent events.
Legal processes take time...let's not repeat Nifong's "Rush to Judgement" shouldn't we expect more honorable behavior?
respectfully,
sp
Blast from the Past:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:RnP5wZA4kX0J:www.fredablack.com/forum/viewtopic.php%3Fp%3D594%26sid%3D5a035db637d2ad05c91ced2f43d0b7ca+Shamieka+Rhinehart&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9
(cached)
Nifong has honesty
Over the past few weeks I have listened to the accusations regarding the election for district attorney and I can no longer remain silent. As a young prosecutor in Durham County, this is the biggest race for the office of district attorney ever, and at the center of this race is the question, "Will justice be equal for all?" Clearly, justice for all means a vote for Mike Nifong come May 2. However, not voting for Nifong would set justice for Durham County back 50 years or more.
On a recent visit with Nifong, I looked in his eyes and saw the one true characteristic that anyone should want in their district attorney, honesty. That honesty that is also reflected in his statement pertaining to the Duke-lacrosse case, "I want to stand for what is right, then be elected." Voting against Nifong would compromise the integrity and high ethical standards of our judicial system. I do believe that he is the best candidate for district attorney -- one that money cannot buy.
The writer is an assistant district attorney.
SHAMIEKA L. RHINEHART
Durham
April 28, 2006
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