Durham DA Disbarred

[Dos Equis]

I hope he loses his law license. 

Durham DA Heads to Trial Over Duke Case
AARON BEARD | June 10, 2007 02:51 PM EST | 


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RALEIGH, N.C. — Mike Nifong spent nearly three decades building a reputation as an honest prosecutor. Yet he is seen today as a bane to peers, many of whom feel tarnished by his mistakes in the now-infamous Duke lacrosse rape case.

His colleagues at the courthouse in Durham remain at a loss to explain how it happened.

"It's still kind of difficult for me to see how we got here," said Woody Vann, a lawyer in Durham. "It is kind of a tragedy. He reached a certain height and ... he got presented with a matter that was just more than he could handle."

On Tuesday _ more than a year after he took the lead in investigating claims three men raped a stripper at a March 2006 party thrown by Duke's highly ranked lacrosse team _ the Durham County district attorney will stand trial on ethics charges ranging from lying to the court to withholding potentially exculpatory evidence.

Gone are the days when Nifong railed against the lacrosse team to every reporter and TV camera within earshot. Mocked in the press and by the public for his handling of the collapsed case, Nifong is keeping a low profile as he prepares for a fight that could end with his disbarment.

"On one hand, he's very anxious to go ahead and have the hearing so he can present the evidence about the allegations against him," said David Freedman, one of Nifong's two attorneys. "On the other hand, it's an extremely stressful situation for any lawyer to go through, especially at this level and profile."

If Nifong is acquitted, the case will have still taken a devastating toll on the career public servant who joined the Durham County prosecutor's office as a volunteer in 1978 after graduating from law school. He is all but assured to be remembered for pursuing a deeply flawed case with unyielding vigor while portraying himself as a crusader against privilege and racism at an elite private university.

Nifong confidently trumpeted he would not allow Durham to become known best for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl." He thundered away at the Duke players in numerous interviews, calling them "hooligans" and decrying a "blue wall of silence" when claiming they weren't cooperating with police. In fact, they largely were.

He traded barbs with defense attorneys in testy courtroom exchanges and pressed ahead even when it became clear his only evidence was the accuser's myriad accounts of an attack that state prosecutors would later conclude never occurred.

It wasn't until the North Carolina State Bar accused Nifong of violating several rules of professional conduct, including making misleading and inflammatory comments about the athletes under suspicion, that he turned the case over to state prosecutors.

More ethics charges followed, include allegations he withheld details of DNA evidence from the defense that showed several men's genetic material was found on the accuser _ though none from a lacrosse player.

A few months later, State Attorney General Roy Cooper minced no words when he dismissed the indictments Nifong won against the three lacrosse players, calling Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse."

"This case reverberates in every courtroom in Durham County," said Bill Thomas, a longtime Durham defense attorney who said he had a "healthy mutual respect" for Nifong until he took on an uncharged Duke lacrosse player as a client last year and became an outspoken critic.

"There is a tremendous sense of distrust, not only among the lawyers but also I think among the judges as a result of the behavior that has been demonstrated in the lacrosse case," Thomas said.

The effects are becoming evident. In February, a federal appeals court cited Nifong by name when commenting on what it considered to be misdeeds by government prosecutors.

On the Internet, Nifong's name had entered the lexicon as a verb meaning "to be railroaded" and as a noun synonymous for "unethical prosecutor." Dozens of prosecutors from across North Carolina showed up at the state Capitol to urge lawmakers not to cut funding to their offices because of Nifong's actions.

"It is affecting everybody," said Peg Dorer, director of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys.

Nifong remains quietly defiant. He declined several requests for interviews in recent months, allowing his attorney to deny rumors that Nifong planned to resign. Nifong's last public comment on the lacrosse case came in a one-page statement released the day the case collapsed. In it, he apologized, but only "to the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect."

His silence will end at the trial, where Nifong is expected to testify in his own defense.

Depending on the outcome, criminal charges could follow. A request remains pending in the Durham County court to remove him from office, on which the judge said he'll start a hearing shortly after the ethics trial.

The judge who oversaw part of the case has also reminded Nifong he could still impose a punishment.

That's all to come. But Nifong's reputation, some say, is already beyond redemption.

"It's how he's going to be remembered," Vann said. "Nobody knows anything about the previous 28 years. The cases he's tried and won, and the cases he's tried well and won. They're just not (going to be remembered)."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070610/duke-lacrosse/

[Dos Equis]

Good, but not good enough.  He needs to give up his license. 

Updated at 10:19 a.m., Friday, June 15, 2007

Duke lacrosse prosecutor says he will resign

By Aaron Beard
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — Facing the loss of his law license, a tearful Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong said today he will resign, more than a year after he obtained rape indictments against three Duke University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.
"My community has suffered enough," Nifong said from the witness stand during the fourth day of his ethics trial on allegations that he violated rules of professional conduct in his handling of the case.

The North Carolina State Bar said Nifong withheld DNA test results from the players' defense attorneys, lied to the court and bar investigators, and made misleading and inflammatory comments about the three athletes, who were cleared of charges they raped a stripper at a team party in March 2006.

Nifong said he did not make all the mistakes alleged by the bar, "but they are my mistakes."

"It has become increasingly apparent, during the course of this week, in some ways that it might not have been before, that my presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice," Nifong said

The inflammatory statements the bar cited included Nifong calling the players a "bunch of hooligans" and confidently proclaiming he wouldn't allow Durham to become known for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl."

On the stand today, Nifong said, "The comment about race was not a comment that should have been made."

He also testified about the DNA tests, saying that when he turned over the report to the defense, he "believed at the time that I had given them everything." He said he didn't realize until months later that additional DNA information was missing.

One of the accused players testified earlier today that he and his teammates had been confident that the DNA testing would quickly clear them.

The results failed to show any physical contact between the accuser and the members of the lacrosse team, but Nifong still pressed ahead with the case and won indictments against Reade Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty.

"We went from being viewed as athletes to being viewed as rapists," Seligmann testified.

Seligmann broke into tears as he described how his attorney got a call from Nifong notifying him of the indictment last year. He said the attorney glanced his way and said, "She picked you."

"My dad just fell to the floor, and I just sat on the ground," Seligmann said. "And I said, 'My life is over.' ... The first thing I thought about was, 'How am I going to tell my Mom.' "

His attorneys pulled together ATM receipts, cell phone records, time-stamped photos and the testimony of the cab driver who took Seligmann home the night of the off-campus party where the woman, hired to perform as a stripper, said she had been attacked.

"I don't know much about the law," Seligmann said, "but you hear the word alibi, and you think that's one of the first things a prosecutor would want to have. You don't charge an innocent person. I could never understand it."

Since opening its case on Tuesday, the state bar has largely focused on the DNA testing, specifically when Nifong learned about the results and when he shared that information with the defense.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jun/15/br/br2315974680.html

[Dos Equis]

Good decision.  I suspect he will be getting sued in short order. 

Mike Nifong Disbarred Over Ethics Violations in Duke Lacrosse Case
Saturday, June 16, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C. —  District Attorney Mike Nifong was disbarred Saturday for his "selfish" rape prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players — a politically motivated act, his judges said, that he inexplicably allowed to fester for months after it was clear the defendants were innocent.

"This matter has been a fiasco. There's no doubt about it," said F. Lane Williamson, the chairman of the three-member disciplinary committee that stripped the veteran prosecutor of his state law license.

Even Nifong and his attorneys supported the decision, though the veteran prosecutor refused to admit to the end that no crime occurred at a March 2006 lacrosse team party.

• Click Here to View the Ethics Complaint Against Nifong

The committee said Nifong manipulated the investigation to boost his chances of winning his first election for Durham County district attorney. In doing so, he committed "a clear case of intentional prosecutorial misconduct" that involved "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation."

Williamson specifically cited Nifong's comments in the early days of the case, which included a confident proclamation at a candidate forum that he wouldn't allow Durham to become known for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl." He also called the lacrosse team "a bunch of hooligans" at one point.

"At the time he was facing a primary, and yes, he was politically naive," Williamson said. "But we can draw no other conclusion that those initial statements he made were to further his political ambitions."

During the ethics trial, Nifong acknowledged he knew there was no DNA evidence connecting Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty to the 28-year-old accuser when he indicted them on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Nifong later charged Dave Evans with the same crimes. But months later, state prosecutors concluded the three players were "innocent" — a fact Williamson hammered home on Saturday.

"We acknowledge the actual innocence of the defendants, and there's nothing here that has done anything but support that assertion," Williamson said.

Williamson said it appeared that throughout his investigation, Nifong was looking for any evidence to link a lacrosse player to the accuser's story in order to support his initial comments that he was sure an attack occurred.

"He's already out there," Williamson said. "He's way out there by then. He looks foolish if he does not go forward."

One of the most serious ethics violations Nifong was found to have committed involved his failure to turn over DNA test results that identified genetic material from several men — but no members of the lacrosse team — in the accuser's underwear and body.

In court documents and hearings in May, June and September, Nifong told two different judges that he had no more evidence that could be considered helpful to the defense. Nifong said he didn't realize the defense hadn't been given all the DNA test results until December — a suggestion Williamson found laughable.

"He knew. He admits he knew," Williamson said during Nifong attorney Dudley Witt's closing argument. "How could he not know if he had read it? How could he not know?"

Witt admitted his client made "multiple, egregious mistakes." He insisted none were made intentionally, but struggled to offer another explanation.

"It didn't click," Witt said as he tried to explain away one of Nifong's errors. "His mind is just his mind. That's the way it works. It just didn't click."

Along with accusing Nifong of withholding the DNA evidence and making misleading and inflammatory comments about the three athletes, the North Carolina State Bar said he lied to both the court and bar investigators. The committee found Nifong broke the state's rules of professional conduct more than two dozen times.

"I would say there are no winners in this scenario," said Kevin Finnerty, Collin's father. "With that said, I think there's closure. I think it's appropriate and I think it's justice.

"I think he brought it on himself."

The players' defense attorneys have pledged to seek criminal contempt charges next week in Durham from a judge who has already reminded Nifong he has the authority to impose punishment. They suggested the calls for a federal civil rights investigation were not out of line.

"I don't think any of us are done with Mr. Nifong yet," said Jim Cooney, Seligmann's attorney.

Nifong declined to comment Saturday while quietly slipping out of the courthouse through a side door, but his attorney had announced earlier — after the committee concluded he broke the rules — that Nifong considered disbarment an appropriate punishment. Nifong had already pledged to resign his $110,000-a-year job as district attorney, and he will not appeal.

"He hopes this helps restore some of the confidence in the criminal justice system of North Carolina," said his attorney David Freedman. "On one hand, it's very devastating. On the other hand, he's been going through this process for a long time, so you always have some semblance of relief when the process is over with regardless of the outcome."

That was perhaps never more apparent than Friday, when Williamson asked Nifong directly if he still believed the accuser was attacked. After pausing for several seconds, Nifong said that while he could not say whether she was sexually assaulted, "something happened to make everybody leave that scene very quickly."

The comment enraged the players' defense attorneys, and sent the mother of one player into the hallway outside the courtroom in tears. Williamson took special care Saturday to note that even though Nifong had apologized to the players and volunteered to give up his law license, he remains unable to agree that no lacrosse player committed a crime.

"In the face of a declaration of innocence by the attorney general of North Carolina, it appears the defendant still believes the facts to be one way and the world now knows that is not the case," Williamson said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,283282,00.html

[bmacsys]

He still may very well face criminal charges. He still won't admit thoise boys weren't guilty. What a POS. While he commits criminal acts while supposedly upholding justice. Have they released the name of that lousy stripper yet? Why hasn't she had to face any charges for lying, extortion, filing false criminal charges etc...?

[youandme]

He still may very well face criminal charges. He still won't admit thoise boys weren't guilty. What a POS. While he commits criminal acts while supposedly upholding justice. Have they released the name of that lousy stripper yet? Why hasn't she had to face any charges for lying, extortion, filing false criminal charges etc...?

Her name is on the web, Laquisha Mocha Brown something like that, she's nastier than previous thought, she should be thrown in jail, along with Nifong.

[bmacsys]

Her name is on the web, Laquisha Mocha Brown something like that, she's nastier than previous thought, she should be thrown in jail, along with Nifong.

When are they going to charge the bitch? Her name is- Crystal Gail Mangum.

[Dos Equis]

Her name is on the web, Laquisha Mocha Brown something like that . . .

 

[Dos Equis]

When are they going to charge the bitch? Her name is- Crystal Gail Mangum.

I doubt they can charge her, but she needs to go to jail. 

[MB_722]

The sad thing is this isn't the only one. I don't doubt for a second that this isn't happening daily all across the country. This one made headlines, then there is the ones who don't.

D.A.'s, police just can't say people are guilty when they are on fishing expeditions.

[legbreaker]

Where are Jesse jackson and Sharpton and their apologies?.....  Embarrassment to the black race, yet some morons still support them.

[Camel Jockey]

Where are Jesse jackson and Sharpton and their apologies?.....  Embarrassment to the black race, yet some morons still support them.

Where's the black stripper that lied to ruin the lives of these young students?

Bullshit.. Only reason she's getting a free pass here is because she's black.

[youandme]

Where's the black stripper that lied to ruin the lives of these young students?

Bullshit.. Only reason she's getting a free pass here is because she's black.

I don't understand how she's getting this free pass, she broke the law, no one else gets free passes.

[bmacsys]

I don't understand how she's getting this free pass, she broke the law, no one else gets free passes.

She was ruled "mentally unfit".

[youandme]

She was ruled "mentally unfit".

Wow even worse. She has a kid, and she is out on the streets?