The Duke Case: Nifong On Trial
(CBS)
Do you really care what happens now to Michael Nifong, the Durham (North Carolina) district attorney whose colossal misjudgments in the Duke lacrosse case left a scattered trail of misery in their wake? I don’t. No matter what happens as a result of his disciplinary hearing which begins today in Durham, Nifong is as a practical matter finished as a trial attorney in the State. Would you want him representing you in court? Me neither. No judge or future juror ever will be able to listen to him again without thinking of the mess he helped create.
Curiously, though, Nifong is not under the gun for his infamously poor judgment. Instead, he is in trouble for other aspects of the sex assault case. He is charged with withholding evidence from the defense, making false statements about it to the court, and of making unduly inflammatory out-of-court comments about the defendants and the evidence. The hearing is expected to last the rest of the week and could result in his disbarment. He won’t be prosecuted and I’m not sure he’s vulnerable either to a civil case brought by the students—governmental immunity goes a long way.
But the hearing is important anyway because Nifong is expected to testify in his own behalf and if he does he will be in a position to finally tell us what we really need to know about his role in the scandal...
