Nifong stripped of law license for misconduct

Hearing's chairman calls the case 'a fiasco,' and parents of the exonerated players tell of the heartache they endured

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CORRECTION

A Page 1A story Sunday about Mike Nifong losing his law license incorrectly named the firm that withdrew a job offer to former lacrosse player Dave Evans when Evans was indicted. J.P. Morgan withdrew the job offer. Evans now works at Morgan Stanley.

An article on Sunday's front page incorrectly stated that Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong surrendered his law license. Nifong offered to do so, but the Disciplinary Hearing Commission refused his offer and proceeded to disbar him.

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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 that fit the magnitude of Nifong's offenses, said the Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which serves as judge and jury for lawyers charged with wrongdoing.

"It's been truly a fiasco," Chairman Lane Williamson said 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: the exonerated players, Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann; their families; the entire lacrosse team and coach; Duke University; Durham and North Carolina's justice system.

After the hearing, the three players and their families exchanged hugs and goodbyes. The mood in the courtroom was one of relief after more than a year of stress and uncertainty.

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

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

Nifong did not speak at the hearing Saturday and declined to talk afterward. Just before he gave up his bar license, he sat with his arm around his wife, Cy Gurney, both in tears.

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

Nifong's legal troubles might not be behind him yet. The families are considering civil suits, and there may yet be criminal charges related to civil rights violations.

"I would be surprised if the saga of Mike Nifong is over," said Joseph B. Cheshire V, one of the defense lawyers.

At the end of the five-day hearing, Williamson struggled to explain the self-destruction of Nifong, who has spent his 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. 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, talking with Mangum or waiting for DNA tests. Nifong asserted a racially-motivated assault occurred and labeled players "hooligans."

The case crumbled, but Nifong continued to press on.

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