DA's conduct draws retort

Lacrosse case spurs candidates

At a Wednesday night courthouse forum, the two candidates challenging District Attorney Mike Nifong next month fired away at his conduct during an investigation of a reported rape at a Duke University lacrosse team party.

Former prosecutor Freda Black and lawyer Keith Bishop criticized Nifong's high visibility during a case that has given rise to furious debates in Durham and attracted media attention across the nation.

Authorities have filed no charges stemming from a black woman's account of being raped by three white men at the party, but the incident has become the major issue in a campaign that until three weeks ago revolved around crowded courtrooms and gang violence.

"Do you want to live over the next four years what we have endured for the last three weeks?" said Bishop in his opening statement at the forum.

Black told the crowd of 200 lawyers, court officials and Durham residents that the tension in the city is partly the fault of the news media and partly the fault of Nifong, who, when news of the investigation broke, gave more than 50 interviews.

"The media has taken over Durham County again," said Black, who in 2003 herself received national attention for helping prosecute Durham novelist Mike Peterson for murder.

"Perhaps he thought he landed a case that would save his prosecutorial career. ... I suggest to you the worst part is some of the damage is most likely irreparable."

Nifong said he has handled the case as it should be handled.

"The reason that I took this case is because this case says something about Durham that I'm not going to let be said," Nifong said. "I'm not going to let Durham's view in the minds of the world to be a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl in Durham."

The forum was sponsored by the Durham/Orange Women Attorneys and the Young Lawyers Division of the Durham County Bar Association.

Grand jury set

After the event, Nifong would not comment on questions about when charges might be filed; a grand jury meets Monday. Television satellite trucks have set up on the steps of the courthouse, and newspaper and radio reporters from out of state covered the event.

In the early days of the investigation, Nifong said he was confident that DNA tests of the players would point to the guilty party. When tests showed no DNA matches, Nifong revealed that weeks after the attack, the woman identified one of her attackers.

The incident has concerned the state chapter of the NAACP. The group said Wednesday that it asked a law professor at N.C. Central University, where the accuser was a student, to monitor the case.

The professor, Irving Joyner, said the civil rights organization wants to ensure the fairness of the case. "I regret it unfolded the way it unfolded," Joyner said.

The group's president, the Rev. William J. Barber, said the organization wants to make sure the case is about facts. "I want this to be handled the same way if it was my daughter or my three sons," he said.

The facts of the case were not discussed at the forum. Instead, the candidates focused on the attention that came with it.

Black told the audience that public statements about the case could jeopardize it. "When you speak publicly about a matter in a pending case, you are talking to a potential jury pool," she said.

Bishop said Nifong went too far.

"If you didn't have the correct information, you should have sat back and been silent," he said.

Nifong said he has gotten pressure from all sides.

"The reason you should vote for me for DA is I would rather do the right thing than win this election," Nifong said.