Disbarred Duke prosecutor's future dim

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Disbarred Duke prosecutor's future dim

By AARON BEARD, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago

RALEIGH, N.C. - His law license lost and reputation in tatters,
Mike Nifong seemingly can fall no further. But the disgraced
prosecutor who committed "intentional prosecutorial misconduct"
in his pursuit of the Duke lacrosse rape case faces an uncertain
— and likely troubled — future.

The falsely accused players and their families, having racked up
millions of dollars in legal bills, appear likely to file civil lawsuits
against the disbarred prosecutor. Their attorneys want a judge
to consider holding Nifong in criminal contempt for lying to the
court.

"Some people will take that as being mean-spirited and kicking
somebody when they're down," defense attorney Joseph
Cheshire said Sunday. "But we believe that this issue is
enormously important and it carries significant precedent and
(the judge) ought to be the one to make that decision because
it happened in his court."

Nifong was disbarred Saturday, a ruling that came one day after
he stunned his staff and own attorneys by announcing through
tears he planned to resign as Durham County's district attorney.
In imposing punishment, a disciplinary committee called Nifong's
prosecution of Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann
a politically motivated "fiasco."

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070617/ap_on_re_us/duke_lacrosse

[panader0]

1. How about chauffer for Al Sharton? It might help his karma.

[Solo_in_MD]

2. Damn thats cold

[greenissexy]

3. It's still 1950

You see what happens to people that try to protect a black woman. They get ground-up and destroyed by the system. This good man had a long record of standing for justice even for people that weren't rich and powerful. Now the Duke elite have destroyed his career, and they're not going to stop until he is completely destroyed.

[jberryhill]

5. Consider the other result

He manages to railroad three individuals into a combined 90 years in prison.

I certainly can feel for the problem of being 56 years old and losing the license to practice the only thing one has done in one's life, but I can also appreciate what it must be to be 19 and thrown in prison for 30 years.

This was the misuse of power to the end of attempting to ruin people's lives for the sake of political gain. It was not about trying to protect any women, and today women everywhere are less safe because of what he did here.

[USA_1]

11. Nifong Deserves His Fate

... but this is not the first time a prosecutor has misbehaved.

A couple of years ago the Chicago Tribune ran a series on prosecutor misconduct where the Cook County AG sent an innocent Hispanic to death row for 11 years even though he knew the man was innocent. To make a long story short, the prosecutor was allowed to retire on a taxpayer funded pension. Mind you, this is after the taxpayers paid a couple of million for the innocent victim's defense.

[deadmessengers]

6. Oh please.

You see what happens to people that try to protect a black woman.

And now for the reality-based version of that same sentence:

You see what happens to people that break the law in an attempt to protect a liar who tried to railroad 3 innocent men into lengthy prison sentences, forcing their families to spend huge amounts of money protecting their names and reputations.

[bluestateguy]

7. I certainly hope Nifong is destroyed

And that woman to which you refer is a liar and possibly herself a criminal.

While I have always been more of a UNC fan, in this case I fully support the "Duke elite".

[cassiepriam]

9. If you have to lie and cheat to win, then what is the moral of the story?

I don't blame him for his intent, but for his total lack of ethics.

[Fridays Child]

4. He'll probably "write" a book.

And he's probably already begun entertaining offers.

[kurth]

8. He tried to screw the wrong crowd

There are countless crooked D.A.'s like him across this country who screw the poor and helpless on a daily basis with impunity.

[jberryhill]

12. That may be true

It may also be unfortunately true that these DA's might just have a look back over their shoulder the next time they try to screw anyone, rich or poor.

Those wealthy slave-owning landowners and merchants that wrote our Constitution were just awful, weren't they.

[Make7]

10. Maybe he can play himself in the "made for TV" movie. ( n/t )