Should we feel sorry for Nifong too he made a mistake

[Charlie P]

By LARA SETRAKIAN
ABC News Law & Justice Unit

DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 28, 2007"” - Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has filed his response to allegations by the North Carolina Bar Association that he acted unethically in his handling of the Duke lacrosse team case.
In the document, released Wednesday afternoon, Nifong systematically denied all the charges against him and struck back, calling for many of them to be dismissed.
In the document, which is Nifong's first complete and official response to the bar association's charges, he addresses allegations that he violated any rules of professional conduct. A complaint filed by the North Carolina Bar Association accused Nifong of violating at least a dozen of those rules by allegedly withholding possible exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense, making misleading statements before a judge, and making inappropriate comments about the case in a series of press interviews.
According to the bar association's complaint, Nifong exhibited "conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, as well as conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice."
That complaint triggered a disciplinary process that required Nifong to respond. It also requires him to appear at an ethics trial, currently scheduled for June 2007, during which a three-member panel will decide whether Nifong is guilty of the alleged violations.
If it sees fit, that panel can choose to punish Nifong -- and the punishment could be harsh. Among the range of disciplinary options, the bar could choose to issue Nifong a private admonition, suspend his law license or permanently disbar him. The latter two options mean he would lose his position as the Durham County district attorney, not to mention his retirement pension.
The North Carolina Bar Association, along with defense attorneys for the three indicted Duke lacrosse players, have accused Nifong of withholding potentially exculpatory evidence from DNA tests that compared samples from Duke lacrosse players against samples of evidence taken from the accuser.

A rape kit was performed on the accuser hours after the March 13 party, at which she claimed to have been sexually assaulted by members of the Duke lacrosse team.
It was determined from those tests that no DNA evidence from the accuser's body or clothing matched samples provided by members of the Duke lacrosse team. There were, however, sample traces of DNA from five to nine unidentified males found on her underwear and rape kit swabs.
"Nifong did in fact provide the [Duke Lacrosse defendants], through discovery, a report of the results of all tests and examinations," the response said.
Attorneys for Nifong argue that because there was no trial ongoing at the time -- no trial date had even been set -- the due process rights of the Duke lacrosse players were not violated by the alleged withholding of DNA evidence.
"Unless the omission deprived the defendant of a fair trial, there was no constitutional violation "¦ no breach of the prosecutor's constitutional duty to disclose," the response said.
The party where the alleged rape occurred took place on March 13, 2006. Nifong learned about the case on March 22 and by March 27, he was giving a series of interviews to local and national media. The bar argued that Nifong, a prosecutor for almost 30 years, should have realized his comments to the press would have been widely distributed, and that they had "a substantial likelihood of prejudicing the criminal adjudicative proceeding."
Nifong's statements to reporters included information about the evidence and testimony in the case, as well as the alleged refusal of Duke lacrosse team members to cooperate with the investigation.
When it comes to his interviews with local and national media outlets, Nifong's attorneys argued that if the prosecutor was guilty of anything, it was inexperience. Finding himself in the middle of the Duke lacrosse case while running a primary election campaign for district attorney, Nifong was a political novice with no experience handling high-profile national cases.
He didn't realize, lawyers argued, that the Duke lacrosse case would become a press spectacle. Once the media's intense interest in the case became clear, they said, he stopped giving interviews and restricted his comments to printed releases and a handful of candidate forums.
The Duke players' defense team refuted that argument, in part by pointing to a letter sent from defense attorney Joe Cheshire to Nifong. The letter was dated March 30, three days after Nifong began making public statements.
Cheshire admonished Nifong, saying, "Your reported comments have greatly prejudiced any court proceedings that may arise."
"I do not understand why you will reportedly speak to the media in such certain, condemning terms before all the evidence is in "¦ despite your knowledge of the presumption of innocence and your position as an officer of the court bound by the rules of professional conduct related to pretrial publicity."
Nifong's controversial comments included this statement to the News & Observer in April: "I would like to think that somebody has the human decency to call up and say, 'What am I doing covering up for a bunch of hooligans?'"
Nifong also stated in a March 2006 television interview that "[T]here is no doubt a sexual assault took place."
Sources close to Nifong said the Duke lacrosse case and the charges of unethical conduct have taken an enormous personal toll on the embattled prosecutor.
They said Nifong's teenage son is heckled at school, his office gets hate mail from around the country, and he has been aggressively pursued by the press. Cameras recently ambushed him as he was stepping out of his house in a bathrobe; the footage later appeared on Fox News.
A source working in Nifong's office said things have been "business as usual" at his workplace, but that he is "clearly holding up a wall" as he tries to keep a smile on his face.
To blow off steam, Nifong plays music in his office -- he is known to shut his door and blast bluegrass music on particularly bad days.
"One thing that hurts him is that he's being portrayed as not being fair," Nifong's friend Bob Nauseef told ABC News.
"I think of all things during this whole process, I think he feels like that he has been as fair as he could be."
"He's devastated," Nifong attorney David Freedman told "Good Morning America" several weeks ago. "It's very upsetting to be attacked. "¦ It's like he's public enemy No. 1."
Freedman added, however, that given the chance, Nifong would bring the charges again.
"I have asked him if he would do it all over again. "¦ He said yes, because he believes that indeed that this [crime] occurred. He may regret some of the things he may have said. [But] I don't think he would have changed his mind about the charges."
There is no trial date set for indicted Duke lacrosse players David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. They still face charges of kidnapping and first degree sexual offense. Special prosecutors Jim Coman and Mary Winstead from the North Carolina attorney general's office will decide whether to drop those charges or to take their case to court. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 7.

[alsaqr]

Yes, we should give him a second chance. He has only ruined the lives of three college students. The students parents were rich anyway.

[Buster T]

sample traces of DNA from five to nine unidentified males found on her underwear and rape kit swabs.

what a sweet woman, loves everyone it appears ( in the background, 2 Live Crew's "me so horny" plays over and over)

Nifong used the Duke false rape case to get re-elected, to further his career and those kids would not be where they are today without Nifongd lying.

I want to know one thing ....... match the DNA of the 1 Lacrosse player that DID NOT have to dubmit DNA samples. I want that guy to be matched to what was found, and to the baby.

[Aught Six]

Prostitutes are icky. [:'(]

And Nifong should really get his for this BS...

[indianahunter83]

I see a difference... Zumbo was expressing his personal opinions while Nifong was in it for the publicity!

[CalHunter]

ORIGINAL: indianahunter83

I see a difference... Zumbo was expressing his personal opinions while Nifong was in it for the publicity!

I don't see how Zumbo can post his opinion in a highly read public blog and not expect to generate and receive a certain amount of publicity. That is part of what he was paid for.

This comparison is an apples and oranges one, at least IMHO. Zumbo was not supportive of RKBA with regard to AR-15's and was insulting but I believe he was being honest.

Nifong, on the other hand, knew DNA evidence pretty much cleared the suspects in this case and chose to drag them through the mud and not disclose all of this evidence to the defense attorneys as required by law. It's hard to interpret that as being anything less than dishonest and almost criminal.

While I don't wish Zumbo any harm to his career, I do think Nifong should lose his job as he's obviously callously disregarded his oath to protect the innocent and put politics ahead of that oath. Anybody that would dishonestly ruin somebody else's life just to get ahead in politics is pretty much a scumbag in my book.[:@]

[kevin1]

Nifong is a tool and richly deserves what's gonna happen before this is over. The only bar he'll be answering to after that will have a happy hour and 99 cent buffalo wings.

[georgepoker]

Should we feel sorry for Nifong too he made a mistake




Everyone has different feelings and they can not be voted on and be as a law that we all have to feel the same. I for one don't think I could forgive a stranger as I could a friend that betrayed me.He was not a friend of mine so why should he be forgiven? Should we continue to forgive and let others think it is allight and they might get a free pass? Or should we make an example out of traitors for slip ups to make sure they will not go unpunished.How many forgave Jimmy Houson for his first time slip up? I rest my case. And he is a sportsman to.

[Blueshark]

Nifong corrupted justice knowingly for months in a concerted effort - he had ample reason to stop and he didn't, day after day and permanently damaged the lives of the men he charged with a crime.

Zumbo made a one time comment and apologized very quickly with no one's lifebeing permanently damaged by his comments.

Both were wrong but the circumstances are completely different. Not a valid comparison at all.

If you want to compare Nifong to anti-gunners, compare him to folks who have consistently supported the AWB and opposed private ownership of these weapons.

[Charlie P]

You don't think he's spent his life prosecuting bad guy's so we should forgive this one mistake. He proably didn't really mean it.