Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

10:15 a.m. • 2-10-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Today: Rain.
    • Hi: 58° F
  • Sat: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 54° F
  • Sun: Clear.
    • Hi: 43° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

Alert

  • Breaking News:  The UNC Board of Governors passed President Tom Ross' recommended tuition increase plan Friday for an average 8.8 percent hike in 2012-2013. The plan now goes before state lawmakers for approval.

State Won't Defend Nifong in Lacrosse Players' Suit


e-mail print friendly
Mike Nifong
Mike Nifong

The North Carolina Attorney General's Office on Thursday rejected a request by former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong to represent him in a federal lawsuit filed by three former Duke University lacrosse players.

In a letter sent to Nifong Thursday, Chief Deputy Attorney General Grayson Kelley wrote that state law allows the Attorney General's Office to deny legal representation to state officials being sued for actions outside the scope of their official duties or actions that involved fraud, corruption or malice.

Nifong's lawyer, James B. Craven III, of Durham, sent a letter Thursday, saying he was disappointed with the decision. He added that it does not "provide much comfort for state employees threatened with civil liability for actions taken in the course of their employment with the state."

Last week, Nifong asked the state to provide him with defense attorneys in the case or pay for his legal fees because he was a state employee at the time he prosecuted the sexual assault case involving David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann.

Two weeks ago, attorneys for the three players filed the federal lawsuit against Nifong, the city of Durham and others linked to the case. They are asking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees and numerous changes in the way the Durham Police Department handles criminal investigations.

The case against Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann was dismissed in April after special prosecutors deemed there was no credible evidence to support a woman's allegation that the men attacked her while she was performing as a stripper at an off-campus team party in March 2006.

Nifong was disbarred in June after a North Carolina State Bar disciplinary panel found he had violated several rules of professional conduct in his handling of the lacrosse case. He resigned his position a few weeks later.

He was found guilty of criminal contempt of court a month later for making false statements in a September 2006 court hearing in the case. He served a one-day sentence in the Durham County Jail.

Nifong now has about two weeks to respond to the civil complaint against him.

A spokesman for the Administrative Office of the Courts said the agency will also decline to defend him.

RELATED TOPICS: Durham County, Durham, Duke University

e-mail print friendly

113 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 113 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments.

Latest Comments
I feel sorry for his son, less for his wife who encouraged him in his bid for election. He , Liefong, deserves to be punished because he trampled over our laws, at the expense of three innocent people. Maybe the Gang of 88, V Peterson and her friends can establish a "defense fund". Or "moveon.org". Or JJackson, AlSharpton and the NBP.

First time I've seen lawyers not stick together. This is very unusual.

Does Mike Nifong's 2 degrees from UNC Chapel Hill not count for anything? He is a card-carrying UNC-Chapel Hill Tarheel to the bone. What have we been reduced to when we attack a native son of one of most prestigious universities on the east coast? Lets drop this mess so we can move forward.

I read the letter from Nifong's attorney and if that is what is representing him then he does not stand a snowball's chance in he!! of coming out of this with anything. A NC middle school child could have written that letter, then again, a middle school child would have done a better job with this whole mess. All I can say is lot's of luck Mikey...you're going to need it.

Nifong didn't mind ruining 3 young men's lives to benefit himself for political gain, so why should the state pay to represent him now that he is being justifiably sued? I say "justice is being served".

View Comments VIEW ALL 113 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here