Duke Lacrosse DA Nifong Says He'll Resign

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

(CBS/AP)  But since-cleared Dave Evans' attorney rejected Nifong's attempt to take responsibility.

"It was an obvious cynical ploy to save his law license, and his apology to these people is far too little and comes far too late," defense lawyer Joseph Cheshire said.

Nifong started in the Durham County prosecutor's office nearly three decades ago as a volunteer attorney fresh out of law school. If convicted by the disciplinary committee, he could lose his license to practice law in the state.

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 Friday, 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.

"My first reaction was a variation of 'oh crap,’" Nifong said. "'I didn't give them this?’"

One of the accused players testified earlier Friday 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 obtained indictments against Seligmann, Evans and 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."

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."

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who in April said the three athletes were "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse," declined to comment. Gov. Mike Easley, who appointed Nifong to the job and will be called on to pick his replacement, also had no comment, a spokeswoman said.

[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.