State Agrees To Take Case From Nifong
The Attorney General of North Carolina has agreed to take over the so-called Duke rape case. Durham district persecutor Mike Nifong, a man with his own verb named after him as a result of the case.
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, hamstrung by a flip-flopping witness and dogged by allegations that he made inflammatory statements to the media, asked Attorney General Roy Cooper's office Friday to appoint a special prosecutor.
"I wish I could tell you this case would be resolved quickly," Cooper said at a news conference Saturday. "Since we have not been involved in the investigation and prosecution, all of the information will be new to our office. Any case with such serious criminal charges will require careful review."
Cooper pledged that his office would not comment on details of the case as officials review the investigation and the charges of sexual assault and kidnapping against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans.
Last month, Nifong dropped rape charges against the men after the accuser changed a key detail of her description of the alleged attack.
Yup, it is all the fault of the witness according to Nifong. Nothing to do with his official misconduct. Little things like suppressing exculpatory evidence don't count. Must be tough shaving in the morning, eh, Mike? No mirror to work with makes it tricky.
Durham-in-Wonderland has a roundup of reactions to the state takeover. The funniest one has got to be this gem:
Nifong's attorney, David Freedman, said that Nifong acted because "he wants to make sure the accuser receives a fair trial." Only in Durham.
I could not have made that one up. Believe me, I try hard at these things, but that one is in a league all its very own.
By X_LA_Native, Saturday, 13 January , 2007 @ 6:37 pm
Nifong acted because “he wants to make sure the accuser receives a fair trial.”
I’m thinking this can only be one thing: a Freudian Slip.