Nifong surrenders law license

After 15 months of waging war in the Duke lacrosse case, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong raised the white flag Saturday and surrendered his law license.

Nifong gave up minutes after a state panel ruled that the Durham District Attorney had intentionally and repeatedly lied and cheated as he prosecuted three former lacrosse players on rape charges.

Disbarment, the toughest penalty a lawyer can face, and nothing short of disbarment fit the magnitude of Nifong's offenses, said the Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which serves as judge and jury to lawyers charged with wrongdoing.

"It's been truly a fiasco," said chairman Lane Williamson in his ruling.

Saturday marked the first time a North Carolina prosecutor has been disbarred for courtroom cheating. Williamson said that message that cheating can cost prosecutors their law license was perhaps the only positive outcome in the case.

Williamson ticked off a long list of victims in the case: the exonerated players, David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann; their families; the entire lacrosse team and coach; Duke University; the city of Durham, and North Carolina's justice system. After the hearing ended, the three players and their families exchanged hugs and goodbyes. The mood in the courtroom was one of relief after more than year of stress and uncertainty.

"We take no joy in this proceeding," said David Evans, father of Dave Evans.

"There are no winners in this," said Kevin Finnerty, Collin's father.

Nifong did not speak at Saturday's hearing, and declined to speak afterwards. Just before he gave up his bar license, he sat with his wife, Cy Gurney, both in tears.

His lawyer, David Freedman, said Nifong felt that he had been given a fair hearing and thought that disbarment was the appropriate punishment. Nifong will not appeal the case, Freedman said.

As he concluded the five day hearing, Williamson struggled to explain the self-destruction of Nifong, who has spent his entire 28 year legal career as a Durham prosecutor.

"Why, why did we get to the place we got?" Williamson asked. "At the root of it is self-deception arising out of self-interest. ... His self-interest collided with a very volatile mix of race, sex and class, a situation which if it were a plot in a John Grisham novel would be considered to be too contrived."

According to Williamson, Nifong grabbed hold of the case in the middle of a hotly contested election campaign. An escort service dancer, Crystal Gail Mangum, said she was raped by three men at a lacrosse team party. Nifong immediately went on a media blitz without reading police reports, or talking with Mangum, or waiting for DNA tests. Nifong asserted a racially assault occurred and labeled players "hooligans."

The case slowly crumbled under Nifong's feet, but he never backed down on the charges.

The accuser told different accounts of the alleged rape every time she spoke with investigators. There was no medical evidence of an assault. DNA tests failed to turn up match with any player.

The tests did find DNA from at least four unidentified men. Nifong knew these results before he brought the first indictment, but he did not disclose the test results for seven months despite repeated requests and court orders to turn over such evidence.

"The fact that we have found dishonesty and misconduct, requires us to enter the most severe sanction that we can enter," Willliamson said.

For much of the week, the lacrosse players and their parents have watched the proceedings against a man who made their life miserable for more than a year.