Nifong Hearing

[laxfan25]

So what do people think will be the end result of the NC Bar hearing for Mr. Nifong? They say it will be wrapped up by Friday.

[Sonny]

Reading Coach Pressler's book right now (about two thirds finished)... I don't think it's appropriate to make light of the situation (i.e. Your Option 1). He certainly didn't give the Duke players the benefit of the doubt.

[Campbell]

I think he will get disbarred, simply because this incident has been a stain on the NC justice system. However, I would not be surprised at all if they simply sanctioned him and allowed him to keep practicing law.

A question for the attorneys out there though, when you are disbarred is that the end of your law career? or can you redeem yourself in some way and practice again?

[Sonny]

Just finished Pressler's book.

If Nifong isn't disbarred... I will be very, very, very surprised. This goes beyond him pursuing a case that he isn't winnable. He deliberately withheld evidence from the defense all the while polluting the jury pool.

Nifong should be Nifonged!

[sohotrightnow]

It can be. He may be disbarred only from a particular jurisdiction, while still able to practice elsewhere. Then again, who would want to hire this guy?

[Hugh Nunn]

It can be. He may be disbarred only from a particular jurisdiction, while still able to practice elsewhere. Then again, who would want to hire this guy?

I don't kow, maybe Nancy Grace is looking for an intern. She completely had his back during the whole affair...maybe she'll throw him a bone.

[Rob Graff]

Has anyone found a "summary" of the first day of the hearings?

I've not been able to find anything about how it went.

Rob

[Sonny]

Has anyone found a "summary" of the first day of the hearings?

Is this what you were looking for?
http://www.collegelax.us/news.php?action=fullnews&id=1396

[laxfan25]

Reading Coach Pressler's book right now (about two thirds finished)... I don't think it's appropriate to make light of the situation (i.e. Your Option 1). He certainly didn't give the Duke players the benefit of the doubt.

Jeesh, lighten up, Francis. It was only a joke. I agree that the case was a travesty of justice and I voted that he would get disbarred. The thought of him looking for another job and ending up in a thong doing pole dances struck me as funny, and a vision I'm struggling to get out of my head!
I didn't mean to make light of the travails that the Duke 3 were put through. While it might not ease all of their pain, I think they will be justly compensated for their troubles.

[peterwho]

Court TV was airing the hearing live when I was home at lunch. They were mired in detail over the DNA analysis.

Too bad it couldn't have gone like this:

Q: Did you analyze the "material" taken from the victim?

A: Yes

Q: What did you find?

A: Traces from the accuser and several men - none of which was from the three men she accused.

Q: Was that information included in the report?

A: The DA requested that we report that there were traces from the accuser and several men be written into the report, but not be too specific.

Q: Was that normal procedure?

A: No, but this was a really big deal and I wanted to keep my job.

[GrayBear]

A question for the attorneys out there though, when you are disbarred is that the end of your law career?

Essentially, yes. An appeal or petition to the jurisdiction's supreme court may reverse the holding upon a showing of compelling evidence to warrant reinstatement, but absent that . . . you're done. As it should be.

As for what happens to Nifong--he'll likely be found culpable and then all the previously sympathetic and supportive individuals/entities will distance themselves from him and let him twist in the wind. Alone.

Welcome to the world.

[Sonny]

But could Nifong theoretically practice law outside the state of North Carolina if he is disbarred in NC?

[GrayBear]

Short answer: "Yes". My understanding is that a "disbarment" of the privilege to practice law is one of the increasingly diminishing state-specific actions that are limited and reserved to the sovereign state that granted the right to practice (i.e., law license) in the first place. There is no "full faith and credit" argument to be had because it is not federal action. That being said, it may be that there is a reporting requirement between and among licensing jurisdictions that requires the sanctioned party to report the disbarment, which may trigger a like sanction in the other state. I really don't know.

This is all assuming he is licensed in more than one state. Not all that common, really.

[Sonny]

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A lab director who conducted DNA testing in the Duke lacrosse rape investigation says Mike Nifong never asked him for a complete and final report on his work.

But Brian Meehan stressed during the Durham County district attorney's ethics trial today that they didn't conspire to hide evidence from the defense.

LINK:
http://www.fox21.com/Global/story.asp?S ... 7&nav=2KPp

[Sonny]

By Benjamin Niolet, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - The chairman of the panel that will decide the fate of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong asked a DNA expert to put himself in the role of a juror deciding the sexual assault case against three former Duke University lacrosse players.

Would it have been helpful, Lane Williamson asked, for a jury to know that DNA testing had recovered from the accuser genetic material from unknown men but not the men charged with rape?

The question cut right to the heart of the State Bar's case against Nifong, who is accused of ethics violations, including withholding the evidence.

"Does the fact that you find no DNA that matches the people who are on trial but you do find DNA of other unidentified people, knowing that you do find DNA of other unidentified people, if you're deciding, one, was a crime committed and two, was it committed by these defendants, does that fact have any bearing on your deciding in your own mind whether these three men did it?

Meehan eventually answered, raising his voice:

"If I were a juror and the only information I had was that one-line sentence that said there was DNA there, I would want to know that, I would want to know what the hell are you talking about there's DNA here? I would want to know what it is. I would want to know what this DNA is because this could be crucial to this case."

The dramatic exchange came near the end of the second day of the case against Nifong. Meehan, director of a DNA lab in Burlington that did testing in the case testified that he left test results out of a report but had always intended to include them in his final report in the case.

LINK:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_ ... 02206.html