Other reputations rose and fell, too

The five-day State Bar proceeding that led to Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's disbarment affected some reputations beyond that of the prosecutor.

LANE WILLIAMSON: The Charlotte lawyer won high praise from all sides for how he ran the proceeding. Williamson was chairman of the three-member panel that disbarred Nifong. He made sure the sessions moved briskly and won agreement from the State Bar, Nifong and spectators that the hearing was fair and thorough. Williamson's performance may quiet rumblings at the legislature that lawyers can't be trusted to regulate themselves.

As the de facto judge in the case, Williamson broke through tedium or doublespeak in testimony with plain-spoken and penetrating questions. He pressed DNA expert Brian Meehan on whether a juror should see the DNA evidence that Nifong withheld: "Yes, a juror should have this information," Meehan finally answered. And Williamson coaxed Nifong to reveal his current thoughts on the charges: "I think something happened in that bathroom," Nifong said, an answer that shocked the courtroom audience and angered the players and their families.

BRAD BANNON: The 36-year-old Raleigh defense lawyer became known as the DNA code breaker for discovering that Nifong had withheld critical evidence from the lacrosse players. A private laboratory found DNA from at least four unidentified men in the rape kit items. At the disciplinary hearing, Bannon was a key witness for the State Bar, methodically outlining his attempts over months to get Nifong to turn over the DNA test results, only to discover the evidence in 1,844 pages of technical documents that Williamson described as "scientific cuneiform."

"What you really saw in this case was the public emergence of one of the best young lawyers in this state," said defense lawyer James P. Cooney III of Charlotte.

BRIAN MEEHAN: As director of DNA Security Inc., a forensic laboratory, Meehan is often called upon as an expert witness in court. That line of work is almost certain to take a dive after his testimony Wednesday. Lawyers on both sides and the panel chairman criticized his testimony during the hearing. From the moment Meehan stepped down through the end of the hearing, Williamson derided the scientist's testimony, referring to him as "Mr. Obfuscation" and calling the scientist an "erratic witness at best." Even Nifong's attorney stated that "I wouldn't make much out of what Dr. Meehan said." Meehan can expect those comments to come up when he's cross-examined in any future cases.

Efforts to reach Meehan failed.

KENDRA MONTGOMERY-BLINN: A former assistant district attorney, Montgomery-Blinn is the first director of the new N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission, where her job is to screen requests from prison inmates claiming innocence.

Montgomery-Blinn testified as a character witness for Nifong, her former boss. Her testimony brought sharp criticism from criminal defense lawyers. Montgomery-Blinn testified that Nifong maintained the highest threshold for deciding whether to prosecute a criminal case: He would proceed only if convinced of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the same standard a jury uses to convict. She also praised Nifong's decision to drop rape charges in December while retaining the sexual assault and kidnapping charges. And she said she had not read the state attorney general's report outlining the players' innocence.

"It is very troubling for anyone's faith in the innocence commission when its director testified for a man who tried to put demonstrably innocent people in prison," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, a Raleigh defense lawyer who represented a lacrosse player. "It's going to take a lot of work to give anyone any comfort that she can properly screen claims of innocence."

Montgomery-Blinn later said she was subpoenaed and testified truthfully: "I don't personally know anything about his particular handling of this case. But I worked for him for a number of years and testified about his work habits and character."