I know someone who personally experienced a similar false charge, and it took a year to get through the criminal portion, then another 5 years to get through the civil portion. After spending thousands of dollars, it was tossed out -- but not after a financial disaster. Turns out the person who originally claimed the false charge had a friend on the Wake County DA's staff. It was a personal vendetta that the DA helped perpetrate. The same Assistant DA "fixed" cases for people as well.
Several DA's offices here in North Carolina have been found running "ticket fixing" scams for personal profit. It is done here all the time.
There definitely should be some remedy for malicious prosecution. At the very least, complete reimbursement of all attorneys fees if it is proven that the charges were completely false (but not based solely on a "not guilty" verdict).
But having prosecuted sex crimes I know how much we have to overcome to get a conviction despite the "blame the victim" mentality cases like this engender, as well as the difficulty with the "he said/she said" aspect. I've seen false claims and I made a tremendous effort to consider the case thoroughly before recommending charges be filed, but it's a dicey business.
This case completely crumbled from the start, even to us non-insiders, but I think Nifong was thoroughly blinded by the political ramifications of the case and since he's a 'Rat, this is par for the course with them.