Nifong, who was labeled a "rogue prosecutor" by Cooper, withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. In June 2007, Nifong was disbarred for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation", making him the first prosecutor in North Carolina disbarred for trial conduct.
Jan 13, 2015 · RALEIGH, N.C. – District Attorney Mike Nifong was disbarred Saturday for his "selfish" rape prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players — a politically motivated act, his judges said ...
Feb 10, 2009 · RALEIGH, N.C., June 16, 2007 — -- Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been disbarred after being found guilty of a battery of ethics violations for his handling of the Duke Lacrosse ...
Jun 17, 2007 · Prosecutor to resign over Duke lacrosse rape case (:54) DA says some statements made to media were improper (3:55) Exonerated player …
Jan 13, 2015 · Choking back tears on the witness stand, Durham, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong announced his resignation Friday after testifying about missteps he made in the Duke lacrosse rape case. The ...
In November 2013, she was found guilty of second-degree murder after she stabbed boyfriend Reginald Daye, who died 10 days after. She argued that she acted in self-defense, fearing that Daye would kill her. She was sentenced to 14 to 18 years in prison.
The Duke Lacrosse team house. From Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service/Getty Images. In the end, there was no trial—a fact that most people forget. The three players received $20 million each in a settlement with Duke.Mar 10, 2016
The other two accused have since found jobs in finance: Collin Finnerty is an equity sales trader for Deutsche Bank in New York City, while David Evans is a senior associate at the consumer team at Apax Partners in New York.Mar 13, 2018
Duke University officials suspend the men's lacrosse team for two games following allegations that team members sexually assaulted a stripper hired to perform at a party. Three players were later charged with rape. The case became a national scandal, impacted by issues of race, politics and class.
ESPN's '30 for 30' documentary 'Fantastic Lies' probes the infamous 2006 Duke lacrosse case, where three white student-athletes were (falsely) accused of raping a black stripper.Apr 13, 2017
An autopsy, released in August 2013, showed Finnerty died of pneumonia brought on by inhalation of vomit after he became disoriented.
Seligmann, a sophomore at the time of the accusations, transferred to Brown following the trial, and then went to law school at Emory University. Today, he works as a law clerk at the U.S. District Court in New Jersey.May 29, 2014
After the Ivy League cancelled the 2020 spring season and declined to extend fifth-year eligibility to spring athletes, Sowers entered the transfer portal and ultimately found himself attending Duke as a student in the graduate business school.Apr 27, 2021
In 2006, Nifong pursued rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping charges against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, three white members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team. The accusation of sexual assault was made by Crystal Mangum, one of two local black woman who the lacrosse team hired to work as strippers at a party. The case attracted national and international media attention. Former New York Times public editor Daniel Okrentwrote, "It [the ca…
Nifong was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and attended New Hanover High School. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in 1971 with a degree in political science. He registered as a conscientious objector and participated in anti-war protests during the Vietnam War. After working as a teacher and social worker, Nifong returned to UNC in 1975 and earned a J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina School of Lawin 1978…
After spending a year as a per diem assistant with the Durham County District Attorney's office, Nifong was hired on a full-time basis in 1979. He eventually worked his way up to chief assistant. After District Attorney Jim Hardin was appointed to a Superior Court vacancy in 2005, Governor Mike Easley appointed Nifong to fill out the remainder of Hardin's term. Nifong was sworn in on April 27, 2005. As the Duke lacrosse case unfolded, Nifong won the Democratic primaryon May 2, …
On December 28, 2006, the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against Nifong over his conduct in the case, accusing him of making public statements that were "prejudicial to the administration of justice" and of engaging in "conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation." The seventeen-page document accuses Nifong of violating four rules of professional conduct, listing more than fifty examples of statements he made to the media.
On June 16, 2007, the North Carolina State Bar Disciplinary Committee unanimously voted to disbar Nifong after delivering a guilty verdict to 27 of 32 charges. The committee found Nifong's previous disciplinary record and acknowledgment of his improper pre-trial statements were substantially outweighed by (among other things) the players' vulnerability and his failure to acknowledge the "wrongful nature of (his) conduct with respect of the handling of DNA evidence."
On September 7, 2007, after having already been disbarred, Nifong reported to the Durham County jail to serve a one-day jail sentence for contempt of court. He was held alone in a cell for his protection.
On October 5, 2007, Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Nifong engineered a wide-ranging conspiracy to frame the players. Also named in the suit were the lab that handled the DNA work, the city of Durham, the city's former police chief, the deputy police chief, the two police detectives who handled the case and five other police department employees. The players sought unspecified damages, and wanted to place the Durham Police D…