Duke Lacrosse DA Resigns
Bansh...@gmail.com
CNN.com
Duke lacrosse DA says he'll resign
POSTED: 6:56 p.m. EDT, June 15, 2007
Story Highlights
· NEW: Mike Nifong: "My community has suffered enough"
· Cleared player said he was happy to provide DNA evidence
· Reade Seligmann testified DA wasn't interested in his alibi evidence
· Attorney general cleared Duke players of attacking stripper
RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Facing the loss of his law license, a
tearful Mike Nifong said Friday he will resign as district attorney,
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
at 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.
Earlier Friday, Nifong acknowledged that he "maybe got carried away a
little bit" in talking about the three lacrosse players who were once
charged with raping a stripper, and he said he expected to be punished
by the state bar.
"I think clearly some of the statements I made were improper," he
testified Friday at the trial.
The now former lacrosse players were cleared after the state attorney
general, who concluded they were "innocent" victims of a rogue
prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse."
On the stand Friday, Nifong said, "The comment about race was not a
comment that should have been made."
If Nifong is convicted of lying and withholding the test results, the
bar's disciplinary committee could strip him of his license to
practice law in North Carolina. He said of the DNA evidence Friday,
"Whether we feel it is exculpatory or not, I'm not denying they were
entitled to have that evidence."
Former player's tearful testimony
One of the accused players testified Friday that he and his teammates
had been confident that DNA testing would quickly clear them.
The DNA tests indeed 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 Friday.
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."
Bar puts focus on DNA testing
Since opening its case 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.
The team party was in March 2006. Nifong released an initial report on
the DNA testing in May 2006, and defense attorneys quickly trumpeted
that private lab DNA Security Inc. had been unable to find a
conclusive match between the accuser and any lacrosse players.
However, lab director Brian Meehan testified Wednesday that he had
told Nifong about the full extent of the test results -- including
that the lab had found matches to other men -- as early as April 10,
2006, a week before the first indictments.
Meehan said he and Nifong never conspired to keep the results from
defense attorneys. He said that the initial DNA report was never
intended to be all-inclusive and that Nifong never asked for a final
and complete report on his lab's findings.
Evans' defense lawyer Brad Bannon testified Thursday that Nifong had
said in court documents and hearings in May, June and September that
he had no more evidence that could be considered helpful to the
defense, yet it wasn't until October 27 that Nifong gave the defense
the raw test data from DNA Security.
"It just kept getting worse," Bannon recalled. "I would find another
one of the items that had male DNA that excluded our clients, and
their teammates, and then another, and then another, and then
another. ...
"We were all bewildered at the fact that it hadn't been provided to us
before."
Nifong's attorneys hoped to finish presenting their defense by Friday
evening. The three-member panel hearing the case is expected to
deliver a verdict not long after the trial concludes, perhaps as early
as Saturday.
Nifong has declined several requests for interviews in recent months.
His last public comment on the case before the ethics trial was 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."
maryanne kehoe
Nifong said he was sorry.
He's just sorry HE got caught: in a web of lies and deceit. He's going
to pay---big time---one all the civil lawsuits against him are filed and
adjudicated.
Benny G.
wrote:
I still want to know why the false accuser isn't being charged with a
crime plus having her name and picture published.
Gregory Morrow
moronanne blowhole babbles:
> He's just sorry HE got caught: in a web of lies and deceit. He's going
> to pay---big time---
So are you - some day...
:-)
--
Best
Greg
maryanne kehoe
FOAD
Gregory Morrow
> FOAD
Earthlink gave me a free month of service as a "thank you" for staying
with them for the past six years, Mary Ann, wasn't that just so darn
*sweet* of them...???
:-)
--
Best
Greg
Bansh...@gmail.com
Oh, believe the Duke Lacrosse players are going to fuck Nifong real
good, so good he wished he never fucked them in the first place.
They're going to get a whole lotta dough out of this civil case.
K Swynford
Knowledge
<gregor...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>maryanne kehoe FURIOUSLY wrote:
>
>
>> FOAD
>
>
>Earthlink gave me a free month of service as a "thank you" for staying
>with them for the past six years, Mary Ann, wasn't that just so darn
>*sweet* of them...???
>
>:-)
Now what would cause an intelligent, successful White man to go do
something stupid like that?