RALEIGH, N.C. — For months, a defense lawyer testified Thursday, Durham County Dist. Atty. Mike Nifong rebuffed all requests for detailed DNA test results in a highly publicized rape investigation, saying he had provided all relevant results.
After six months of legal sparring last year, Nifong suddenly released 1,844 pages of highly technical DNA data. Defense lawyers then uncovered what they say Nifong tried to hide: DNA from at least four unidentified men had been found on the clothing and body of a stripper who had accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her -- but none of the DNA was from a defendant.
"We were bewildered by the fact that it had never been provided to us before," defense lawyer Brad Bannon told a North Carolina State Bar panel investigating Nifong's conduct.
The bar has charged Nifong with withholding exculpatory evidence, lying to judges, and making prejudicial public statements while pursuing the rape prosecution. The state's attorney general eventually dismissed all charges in the Duke case.
Nifong, 58, a career prosecutor, could be disbarred if found guilty. If so, he would probably be obligated to step down as district attorney, according to North Carolina legal authorities.
Bannon, his voice rising in indignation at one point, said Nifong had nearly ruined the lives of three young men and had besmirched the reputation of justice in North Carolina by repeatedly describing "some heinous crime that was racially motivated." The former defendants are white and the stripper is black -- circumstances Nifong emphasized last year.
As the county's most powerful law enforcement officer, Nifong's statements held enormous sway over ordinary citizens and potential jurors, Bannon testified. He added: "I cannot count how many times I heard that 'There is no way the district attorney would have said the things he said in this case unless there was something there.' "
Testifying for the bar as a North Carolina legal ethics expert, Mecklenburg County Assistant Dist. Atty. Marsha Goodenow said Nifong's approach to the DNA evidence and many of his public comments violated the state's legal code of ethics.
Goodenow said Nifong's behavior had created "a lack of confidence in the justice system" in North Carolina. She said a state prosecutor recently remarked in court, after being denied a request, "I've been Nifonged."
