More trouble awaits disgraced prosecutor; Criminal complaint, civil
RALEIGH, N.C. — His law license lost and reputation in tatters, Mike Nifong seemingly can fall no further. But the disgraced prosecutor who committed “intentional prosecutorial misconduct” in pursuing the Duke lacrosse rape case faces an uncertain — and likely troubled — future.
The falsely accused players and their families, having racked up millions in legal bills, appear likely to file civil lawsuits against the disbarred prosecutor. Their lawyers want a judge to consider holding Nifong in criminal contempt for lying to the court.
“Some people will take that as being mean-spirited and kicking somebody when they’re down,” defense attorney Joseph Cheshire said Sunday. “But we believe that this issue is enormously important and it carries significant precedent and [the judge] ought to be the one to make that decision because it happened in his court.”
Nifong was disbarred Saturday, a ruling that came one day after he stunned his staff and own lawyers by announcing he planned to resign as Durham County’s district attorney. A disciplinary committee called Nifong’s prosecution of Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann a politically motivated “fiasco.”