Duke Lacrosse DA Nifong Says He'll Resign

Tearful Durham DA To Step Down More Than A Year After Rape Indictments

(CBS/AP)  A tearful Mike Nifong said Friday he will resign as district attorney after admitting that he made improper statements about three Duke University lacrosse players who were once charged with raping a stripper.

"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 players were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.

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.

Nifong was on the witness stand for most of the day, but he took nine sometimes awkward, sometimes tearful minutes to try to save his name and his law license, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts.

"As my parents raised me to try to do the right thing, and i have always been willing to take responsibility for the things that I have done, right or wrong. I take responsibility for the things that I have done in this case," he said.

Then, for the first and only time on the witness stand, Nifong turned to Reade Seligmann and his parents seated in court, and Colin Finnerty and his parents one row behind them.

"When I saw Mr. Seligman on the stand today, I thought that his parents must be very proud of him. I am very proud of my son and I want him to be proud of me. And I felt that it was important for him to see this because I’ve always told him that in this case, although I’ve made mistakes, I was trying to do the right thing," Nifong said.

Nifong's soft-spoken statements were barely audible in the courtroom, where observers leaned forward in their chairs as they struggled to hear Nifong through his tears. He stunned even his own attorneys and staff with the news, who said they had no idea what he had planned.

While Nifong’s wife and son wept openly, most showed little sympathy for Nifong's words. Earlier, Seligmann spoke of a man who had ruined his life, reports Pitts.

"It felt like a sick joke. Like we were being toyed with. Like he was doing it maliciously on purpose to us."

[lawwatch-2009]

Well, now that we've put one overzealous prosecutor out of business, it's time to turn our attention to the monkey business going on in Georgia, especially in the small city traffic courts where I've discovered that the Judges are hired by the prosecutors in almost every county in that State. Doesn't that seem to be a serious "Conflict of Interest" and slanted, unfairly, towards the Court. I guess what they say is true....It's ALL about the Money!!

[cryonbrian]

Who Gary Ridgway?

He was found guilty of 27 out of 32 counts and they are in phase II of the trial

[cryonbrian]

superchez1

Hey Gary Ridgway?

According to CNN
Even if he is disbarred, Nifong's troubles aren't over -- the players' attorneys have pledged to seek criminal contempt charges next week in Durham.

janem4, although he has not turned in his resignation, he has verbally resigned in the court house.

What I think we will all see next are civil suits against him from the Duke Three boys in the coming days or weeks to come to pay back the millions spent in their defense. As well as the city of Durham to recoup the $23,000.00 spent on the DNA tests conducted by DNA Securities Inc. As well as money spent for DNA testing at the SBI Lab as well.

[cryonbrian]

There a people who who have spent years in jail for crimes they did not commit! Prosecutors, Judges and Lawyers had knowledge of evidence that would have cleared these people but refuse to act on it! These 3 wholesome white boys will be ok, trust me! Their ordeal was nothing more than the average black person deals with when the go to the mall, movies are walking in a white community, etc! Get over it already!

[wyo-kid]

Weather Nifongs a Democrat or a Republican he needs to be miles away from the law either as a prosecutor or as a defense lawyer. I wonder how many innocent people were indicted by him and had gone bankrupt with legal fees in order to be acquitted in court,or how many were sent to prison because they were unable to afford good counsel.
Bottom line he needs to do the time that the innocent lacrosse athletes would have done, if they had been falsely convicted.

[cryonbrian]

Get over it already people! Isn't that what white folks always say? LOL

jwhitmann are you watching the trial today?

[jwhitmann]

Bet ya Nifong is a Democrack......
Posted by mommajomma at 09:14 AM : Jun 16, 2007


YOU ARE CORRECT, Nifong IS A DEMOCRAT.

It was nothing more than an election ploy. Nifong was seriously challenged in the Democrat primaries and needed help.

Help arrived in the form of this "scandal" in a district with a large African-American population.
Nifong leapt at the opportunity, and as a result, won the Democrat primary, and thus the election, in a district heavily dominated by Democrats.

I live in Durham, NC, it's all we hear about here.

[jwhitmann]

Bet ya Nifong is a Democrack......
Posted by mommajomma at 09:14 AM : Jun 16, 2007


YOU ARE CORRECT, Nifong IS A DEMOCRAT.

It was nothing more than an election ploy. Nifong was seriously challenged in the Democrat primaries and needed help.

Help arrived in the form of this "scandal" in a district with a large African-American population.
Nifong leapt at the opportunity, and as a result, won the Democrat primary, and thus the election, in a district heavily dominated by Democrats.

I live in Durham, NC, it's all we hear about here.

[jwhitmann]

Bet ya Nifong is a Democrack......
Posted by mommajomma at 09:14 AM : Jun 16, 2007


YOU ARE CORRECT, Nifong IS A DEMOCRAT.

It was nothing more than an election ploy. Nifong was seriously challenged in the Democrat primaries and needed help.

Help arrived in the form of this "scandal" in a district with a large African-American population.
Nifong leapt at the opportunity, and as a result, won the Democrat primary, and thus the election, in a district heavily dominated by Democrats.

I live in Durham, NC, it's all we here about here.

What's gonna happen to the criminal who accused them?
Posted by driften at 10:29 AM : Jun 16, 2007


Nothing is going to happen to Crystal Gail Mangum according to Attorney General Roy Cooper, his statement was that he was not going to charge her because "she believed her own lies" truly a mental woman

[driften]

What's gonna happen to the criminal who accused them?

[SHnNC]

Through Nifongs testimony, it appeared staged and coached. What really angered me was when he said "I will carry this to my grave" and his comparisons of disruption to his family as well. My point is this, these young men will also carry it to their grave and they most probably will outlive Mr. Nifong. To put himself on the same playing field as these young comparing himself as an equal was certainly something to be said about him. I think these two statements in themselves demonstrate he is more concerned about his current "label" than those of the three young men he judged and made their lives miserable. No matter what they do, they WILL be the carriers of the "Duke Lacrosse Rape Players." Clearly, he has made it apparent this was about Mike Nifong's own personal gain at the expense of three INNOCENT young men, everone needs to remember they not only had the charges dropped but, AG Roy Brown proclaimed them innocent.

[mommajomma-2009]

Bet ya Nifong is a Democrack......

[cryonbrian]

Wow, I have not seen white folks so angry since they canceled Mork and Mindy! LOL

[METAUSTIN]

What Nifong did is inexcusable. He should not only be disbarred, but should serve prison time as well. He is an arrogant monster. Just look what he did to those innocent young men! He scarred them for life. They will never trust the law again and I don't blame them. Resigning his post is the easy way out. What a coward.

[drivelphobe]

Nifong is an embarrassment to the legal and political system. He should lose his license to practice law, and spend 20 years in jail. What a total jerk. How proud his family must be of him. He is proof that people who look stupid are usually stupid.