Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Steps Down

By Jeralyn, Section Duke Lacrosse
Posted on Fri Jan 12, 2007 at 06:14:40 PM EST
Tags: Duke Lacrosse, Mike Nifong (all tags)

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Update: The State Attorney General, Roy Cooper, announced Saturday his office will take the case from Nifong.

Mike Nifong, the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse player's alleged sexual assault case has asked to be removed and for the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said Friday in an e-mail that District Attorney Mike Nifong sent a letter requesting the special prosecutor.

As to what this means for the case, I'd say delay, a long one.

A hearing on the defense motion to suppress the accuser's identification of the players is scheduled for February 5. The state attorney general must now appoint a special prosecutor who will need a substantial amount of time to familiarize himself or herself with the case.

Again, don't miss the 60 Minutes interview this Sunday with the prosecution's DNA expert, Brian Meehan, who says he made a serious error in judgment in withholding the exculpatory DNA results:

Meehan has also said in court proceedings that he and Nifong agreed before the evidence tests were completed that his report should be limited to positive matches between the accuser and the players at the team party where she says she was sexually assaulted last March.

Meehan says writing an incomplete report violates his own firm's standards. "It was an error in judgment on my part. … It certainly was a big error," says Meehan. He says his firm wasn't trying to hide the information and that it released it when it was asked. But his client's behavior irks him, he says.

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Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Steps Down | 2 comments (2 topical)

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Huh. (none / 0) (#1)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jan 12, 2007 at 07:48:33 PM EST

Meehan says writing an incomplete report violates his own firm's standards. "It was an error in judgment on my part. ... It certainly was a big error," says Meehan.

I wonder if Meehan will also explain how it came to be that his own DNA was detected in the accuser's samples.

Seems pretty error-prone for someone who's work is used in making, literally, life and death decisions.

Irksome indeed.

let's see if i understand this............... (none / 0) (#2)
by cpinva on Sat Jan 13, 2007 at 07:09:46 AM EST

DA Nifong, in essence, asked him to manipulate the results, by failing to provide a complete report? this failure extended to the defense attorneys, who also didn't get a complete report, on initial discovery.

isn't this nearly a criminal act, on the part of DA Nifong: the intentional failure to provide potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense?

tell you what jeralyn, i give the case another month of shelf life, subsequent to a new prosecutor being appointed. that's how long it will take for him/her to review the file, and move to dismiss it.

at this point, even if something did happen (i have no clue), this case is so fouled up, it won't withstand a move for dismissal by the defense, on the first morning of trial. or it shouldn't.