4. Duff Wilson & David Barstow, Duke Prosecutor Throws Out Case Against Players, N.Y. Times, Apr. 12, 2007, at A1. 5. Memorandum from Roy Cooper, Att’y Gen., Comments on State v. Finnerty, Evans, Seligmann 2 (Apr. 11, 2007) (on file with author). 6. Id. at 1. 7. In cataloging the ways the case is unusual, I put at the top of the list (1) the obvious
Jun 16, 2007 · A panel ruled that Michael B. Nifong must be disbarred for ethical violations during his prosecution of a sexual assault case against three Duke lacrosse players.
Jun 17, 2007 · A disciplinary committee said Saturday disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong will be disbarred for his disastrous prosecution of three Duke …
Aug 30, 2016 · Disbarred Duke lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong is back, along with more misconduct allegations. Former Durham County, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong, center, is surrounded by supporters as ...
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
Coordinates:36.00831°N 78.91203°W The Duke lacrosse case was a widely reported 2006 criminal case in Durham, North Carolina, United States in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann.
Kirk Osborn, a lead defense attorney in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, died early Sunday, a fellow defense attorney in the case said. Kirk Osborn, a lead defense attorney in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, died early Sunday, a fellow defense attorney in the case said. He was 64.Mar 25, 2007
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
Three Duke University lacrosse players and the City of Durham settled a long-running lawsuit Friday, closing another chapter in a case that exposed flaws in the Durham justice system and ended a district attorney's legal career.May 16, 2014
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.
The entire Duke-lacrosse criminal case, from the night in question to the dismissal of the criminal charges against three players—Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann, and David Evans—took 13 months.Mar 24, 2014
The Group of 88 is the term for the professors at Duke University who were signatories to a controversial advertisement in The Chronicle, the university's student newspaper, on April 6, 2006.
Detailing a high-profile rape case in which the rush to judgment significantly outpaced the calm gathering of facts, the smoothly riveting Fantastic Lies lays out the sexual assault scandal that ensnared and smeared the Duke University men's lacrosse team in 2006, triggering nationwide scorn even though the players ...Mar 11, 2016
All charges against the players were eventually dropped. Mangum lives on in the public consciousness as one of America's most infamous rape accusers. She is aware of this even though she's currently serving a minimum 14 year, 2 month prison sentence for second-degree murder in an unrelated case.Mar 10, 2016
Crystal MangumCriminal chargeMurder (second degree)Penalty14–18 yearsDetailsVictimsReginald Daye8 more rows
Nifong ultimately stepped out of the case when it was revealed he had withheld exculpatory DNA tests on the players, and he was subsequently forced out of office, disbarred, convicted of contempt of court and jailed for a day in 2007.Aug 30, 2016
On January 15, 2008, Nifong filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. He listed assets of almost $244,000 and liabilities of over $180.3 million, virtually all of which derived from six $30 million "unsecured nonpriority claims", one for each of the six members of the 2005–06 Duke lacrosse team suing Nifong, among others.
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.
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 Law in 1978. He was admitted to the North Carolina bar.
Nifong is twice married, his second wife is Cy Gurney, regional administrator of North Carolina Guardian ad Litem. He has a daughter from his first marriage and a son with Gurney. He lives in northern Durham County.
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.
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."
Nifong gave more than 50 interviews, many with the national media, according to his own account and confirmed by the News & Observer. In these interviews, Nifong repeatedly said that he was "confident that a rape occurred", calling the players "a bunch of hooligans" whose "daddies could buy them expensive lawyers.".
Ten years ago this month, Duke lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans were accused of raping Crystal Mangum, a North Carolina Central College student who was hired to strip for the team during a party. The media’s coverage of the case inflamed race, gender and class divisions locally and nationally.
Susannah Meadows, a journalist interviewed in “Fantastic Lies,” describes in the film how Nifong gave over 50 interviews making false statements because, in effect, he could. “You naturally think, ‘Wow there’s something there,’ because you believe in the process,” said Michael Cornacchia, Finnerty’s lawyer in the Duke case.
Michael Byron Nifong (born September 14, 1950) is an American former North Carolina attorney, who has been disbarred. He served as the district attorney for Durham County, North Carolina until he was removed, disbarred and jailed following court findings concerning his conduct in the Duke lacrosse case, primarily his conspiring with the DNA lab director to withhold exculpatory DNA evidence that could have acquitted the defendants.
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, …
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…
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…