Written by Heavy_Newser | 17 June 2007

By AARON BEARD | Associated Press Writer

That self-assured Mike Nifong of 2006 couldn't be more different than the disgraced man who left a courthouse through a side door on Saturday _ quiet, humbled and disbarred. 

The disciplinary committee that stripped the veteran prosecutor of his state law license called it "a clear case of intentional prosecutorial misconduct" that involved "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation."

The panel said Nifong manipulated the investigation to boost his chances of winning his first election, then allowed the false rape allegations to fester for months.

"This matter has been a fiasco," said F. Lane Williamson, the committee chairman in announcing the disbarment. "There's no doubt about it."

When the allegation became public, protesters marched on the Duke campus and in Durham. The university canceled the highly ranked team's season and accepted the resignation of longtime coach Mike Pressler. Nifong charged three players _ Reade Seligmann of Essex Fells, N.J., Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans _ with rape, kidnapping and sexual offense.

A year later, they were cleared once state prosecutors determined the accuser's shifting account of a March 2006 attack was a lie. Even though the veteran prosecutor refused to admit to the end that no crime occurred, Nifong and his attorneys supported the decision to disbar him.

"It's a shame he didn't listen to people who were trying to tell him this months and months ago," said Joseph Cheshire, Evans' attorney.

The committee said Nifong manipulated the investigation to boost his chances of winning his first election for Durham County district attorney. Williamson specifically cited Nifong's comments in the early days of the case, which included a confident proclamation at a candidate forum that he wouldn't allow Durham to become known for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl." He also called the lacrosse team "a bunch of hooligans" at one point.

Appointed district attorney in 2005, Nifong was in a tight race for the office when a stripper told police she was raped at the March 2006 party.

"At the time he was facing a primary, and yes, he was politically naive," Williamson said. "But we can draw no other conclusion that those initial statements he made were to further his political ambitions."

During the ethics trial, Nifong acknowledged he knew there was no DNA evidence connecting Seligmann and Finnerty to the 28-year-old accuser when he indicted them on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping. Nifong later charged Evans with the same crimes. But months later, state prosecutors concluded the three players were "innocent" _ a fact Williamson hammered home on Saturday.

"We acknowledge the actual innocence of the defendants, and there's nothing here that has done anything but support that assertion," Williamson said.

Williamson said it appeared that throughout his investigation, Nifong was looking for any evidence to link a lacrosse player to the accuser's story in order to support his initial comments that he was sure an attack occurred.

"He's already out there," Williamson said. "He's way out there by then. He looks foolish if he does not go forward."

One of the most serious ethics violations Nifong was found to have committed involved his failure to turn over DNA test results that identified genetic material from several men _ but no members of the lacrosse team _ in the accuser's underwear and body.

In court documents and hearings in May, June and September, Nifong told two different judges that he had no more evidence that could be considered helpful to the defense. Nifong said he didn't realize the defense hadn't been given all the DNA test results until December _ a suggestion Williamson found laughable.

"He knew. He admits he knew," Williamson said during Nifong attorney Dudley Witt's closing argument. "How could he not know if he had read it? How could he not know?"

Witt admitted his client made "multiple, egregious mistakes." He insisted none were made intentionally, but struggled to offer another explanation.