State Takes Over Duke Lacrosse Case

Attorney General Says Sexual Assault Case Won't Be Resolved Quickly

(CBS/AP)  The state attorney general's office agreed Saturday to take over the sexual assault case against three Duke University lacrosse players at the request of the embattled district attorney.

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, hamstrung by a flip-flopping witness and dogged by allegations that he made inflammatory statements to the media, asked Attorney General Roy Cooper's office Friday to appoint a special prosecutor.

“I wish I could tell you this case would be resolved quickly,” Cooper said at a news conference Saturday. “Since we have not been involved in the investigation and prosecution, all of the information will be new to our office. Any case with such serious criminal charges will require careful review.”

Cooper pledged that his office would not comment on details of the case as officials review the investigation and the charges of sexual assault and kidnapping against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans.

Last month, Nifong dropped rape charges against the men after the accuser changed a key detail of her description of the alleged attack.

Nifong has led the investigation into allegations a 28-year-old student at North Carolina Central University — hired to perform as a stripper — was gang-raped and beaten at a March 13 party thrown by Duke's highly ranked lacrosse team.

Nifong's comments to reporters in the early days of the case, including calling the lacrosse team “a bunch of hooligans,” led the North Carolina State Bar to charge him last month with several ethics violations.

He faces penalties ranging from admonishment to removal from the bar; a hearing in that case is scheduled for May 11.

"Michael Nifong recognizes the reality of the situation he's got his own problems to worry about," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

Among those problems are the families of the accused, who minced no words to 60 Minutes’ Leslie Stahl in an exclusive interview to be seen Sunday night.

"Mr. Nifong, you've picked on the wrong families of the Duke lacrosse team. You will pay for the rest of your life," said Rae Evans, the mother of David Evans

Nifong's attorney said Friday the conflict of interest those charges created led the veteran prosecutor to ask the state to take over.

Attorney David Freedman said Nifong is disappointed that he has to get out of the case and that his decision to seek a special prosecutor has “nothing to do with how he feels about the merit of the case.”

Under North Carolina law, only a district attorney can formally request a special prosecutor. The request can be made when there are potential conflicts of interest, when a case is particularly complex or when there are other unusual circumstances.

Cooper said Jim Coman, a former director of the State Bureau of Investigation and head of the attorney general's Special Prosecution Section; and Mary D. Winstead, a prosecutor in that division, would now oversee the case.

“Agreeing to accept the prosecution of these cases doesn't guarantee a trial, nor does it guarantee a dismissal,” Cooper said.

He said his office would take possession of the case files and documents next week, but declined to comment on how quickly their review would progress.

Some observers are asking why Nifong waited until Friday to ask to be pulled from the case.

"He's doing it now because he's in trouble," Cohen said. He has finally realized that he has become the story here, which is not where a prosecutor wants to be."

[shackoooo]

cacee13601 - Your suggestion that the accuser's story changed because some minor details may have gotten mixed up over time is insane. Do you really think that whether or not a *** was shoved into her mouth was a detail? Give me a break. Is your hatred for white males so great that you can't call a liar a liar?

This whole mess is so easy to decipher. A *** gets treated like a piece of meat, gets angry and decides to get even. Due to her low I.Q. and drunken drugged state does a sloppy job of making up and sticking with a plausable story. A D.A. who is behind in the polls sees this as a way to dupe the black community into voting for him. Useful idiots such as the Duke 88, Jesse, Sharpton, and a whole bunch of liberal left scum hop on the bandwagon.

I'm betting that none of the guilty parties in the hoax will pay as steep of a price as what the 3 accused have already paid.

[thepaintress]

I think the DA should stop practiceing law. He also owes those 3 boys and their parents alot. I am sorry does not cut it. Those boys are ruint and the DA should be ruint. He owes them parents their money back for lawyers fee's,the money they have spent at Duke for thie education's that is gone.That the DA and the DNA man that done the test should do time for the lies and with holding evidence and the girl who told the lies should also do time. There was no justice in this case and how many other innocent peolpe has this man sent to jail. I also feel the girl saw money in these white boys if they were convicted to raise her child with. I am ashamed of the court system for letting this man serve as DA for Durham N.C.

[cacee13601]

hmm i dont know what to say about this one.. if shes changing her story that doesnt mean it didnt happen it just means its not still fresh in her mind.. people tell the same story and change minor details every time they tell it...

[bluestardad]

The DA must be disbared!

nikosk1... I do!!

My guess is that the accuser (Crystal) will "fold" once she has to speak to the state attorney generals office, they are a little higher up on the totem pole than Nifong

[mso88]

There seems to be no end to the string of bottom-feeders trying to prosecute this non-case. They must drop it now and start bracing for the lawsuits.

[debrad3]

Fifty years ago white men would have gotten away with raping a black woman........ she would have gone to the police and gotten no where. Now a black woman feigns rape and white men are guilty until proven innocent??? Reverse discrimination at its best.

[kjgal]

Thank God something is going right in the world.

[mojo805]

If you think you are safe from out-of-control prosecutors, take a look at what happened to this 16 year old kid and how DA Andrew Thomas of Maricopa County, Arizona handled his case:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2791168

(story: Hackers corrupted a teenager's computer and he nearly went to prison)

I think as responsible citizens, we need to watch the tactics of overzealous prosecutors. We rely on the media to help us keep informed about their activities. They have the power to ruin a person's life and they are immune from lawsuits. Ed Bradley, God bless him, helped make things clear about the Duke case before he died. I hope the media exposes the activities of other DAs who abuse their authority and that we raise a stink about it when we hear about it. Otherwise we'll watch all the rights that the Founding Fathers fought so hard for go down the toilet because of these people who abuse their position.

Note: I posted this message last night on a related article. I want to disclose this so that I won't be thought of as a spammer. And I hope that the good people of CBS don't mind the URL to a rival news organization because this message is meant to be in the interest of the public good.

markjessup knows about the porn on nifong's computer because he posed for him