DURHAM - After the most recent hearing on the Duke University lacrosse rape case, critics have ratcheted up the heat on District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Some fiery comments have been targeted at Duke University, too.

This week, U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican from Farmville, renewed his request for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Nifong's handling of the rape case against three former Duke lacrosse players.

Jones asked Alberto Gonzales, the U.S. attorney general, to review evidence from the hearing, in which the head of a private lab testified that Nifong and he agreed last spring not to report DNA results favorable to the accused.

Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security in Burlington, testified his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear and body of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March.

North Carolina law requires prosecutors to hand over all evidence to defendants regardless of whether it has been requested.

The information was in a report that defense lawyers got only after asking for it during a court hearing.

State Rep. Stephen LaRoque, a Republican from Lenoir County, also weighed in. He endorsed Jones' call for a federal investigation and suggested a change in state law to allow prosecution of prosecutors who engage in professional misconduct.

Only the N.C. State Bar has the authority to punish incidents of legal misconduct. "That's like having the fox guard the henhouse," LaRoque said.

Jones' request won another endorsement this week from Friends of Duke University, a group of five people that monitors media reports and information on the Internet about the lacrosse case.

Spokesman Jason Trumpbour, a 1991 Duke law school graduate who lives in Parkton, Md., seems to have sparked a response from Duke administrators with his rant.

"The administration's silence about Mr. Nifong's continued assault on the civil liberties of Duke students appears to be having an unfortunate, if inevitable, effect," Trumpbour said in the group's statement, citing a 20 percent drop in early admissions applications. "Surely any prospective parent would have to think twice about sending a son or daughter to an institution whose leadership has stood aside as a local prosecutor targets students through procedurally improper actions."

Hours after Trumpbour's statement was released, Duke sent a brief statement from President Richard Brodhead.

"Under American law, the legal system is the place to establish the facts and bring a case to a just resolution," Brodhead said. "For that reason, it is of the essence that everyone involved in the legal system act fairly in pursuing the truth and protecting the rights of the individuals involved. As I told Ed Bradley during a '60 Minutes' interview last summer, given the concerns that have been raised, when it goes before a judge and jury the DA's case will be on trial just as much as our students will be. In the meanwhile, as I have said before, our students must be presumed innocent until proven otherwise."