Role reversal: Duke DA to take the stand

Mike Nifong is now a defendant.

And Collin Finnerty will be there to watch him face justice.

Widely known as a rogue prosecutor accused of improperly pursuing what turned out to be false rape charges against Finnerty and two other Duke University lacrosse players, the Durham, N.C., district attorney is now listed on the North Carolina State Bar docket.

Nifong's ethics trial in Raleigh, N.C., which begins Tuesday, is based on a complaint brought against him by the North Carolina bar, a government disciplinary agency that polices lawyers' conduct.

The complaints, if upheld, could cost him his law license and then, as a consequence, his district attorney's job.

Expected to last as long as four days, the proceeding could provide clues as to how, and why, a career public servant decided to ride a dubious case first to fame, then to disgrace.

Nifong will take the stand to explain why he did what he did, said David Freedman, of Winston-Salem, N.C., his lawyer.

"The normal procedure in a state bar hearing is for the defendant to take the stand, and that's what the defendant will do in this case," Freedman said.

"He expects to get a fair hearing."

Nifong will be questioned not by the lacrosse players' formidable team of top defense lawyers in North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and New York City, but by government prosecutors from the state bar.

Nifong could be acquitted, admonished, suspended or disbarred, said Thomas Lunsford, executive director of the state bar.

Disbarred lawyers may apply for reinstatement after five years, Lunsford said, and must "demonstrate the reformation of his character sufficient to warrant reinstatement."

The entire Duke lacrosse case, which sparked questions about race and privilege because three wealthy, white men were accused of holding captive and raping an exotic dancer, who is a black woman and a single mother. The woman claimed the assault took place March 13, 2006, in a bathroom at an off-campus lacrosse team party.

It took more than a year for the young men to be cleared. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who assumed control of the case earlier this year amid an uproar over Nifong's methods, concluded in April that the players were innocent and no assault took place at the party that night.

Asked last week how his son feels about his virtual role reversal with the prosecutor, Kevin Finnerty, of Garden City, Collin's father, said, "I think people are looking for justice to be served, and that's all we're hoping for."

Collin Finnerty, 20, and his parents are planning to attend Nifong's hearing. So will the other two cleared lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, 21, of Essex Fells, N.J., and David Evans, 24, of Bethesda, Md., and their parents, Kevin Finnerty said.

"They're all in the same boat. The moms will be there likely for the whole week," Kevin Finnerty said.

This week's trial will be the latest in a series of events that have battered Nifong. Cooper's unequivocal declaration of the players' innocence, and his labeling of Nifong as a "rogue" prosecutor, was an unusual event and a devastating blow to Nifong's reputation and his standing in the legal community. Yet as the elected district attorney, he continues to be responsible for prosecuting Durham County's criminal cases.

Cooper found that Nifong improperly kept secret DNA evidence that eliminated the players as suspects. He ignored dozens of contradictory and implausible statements from the accuser and declined to view electronic, photographic and other substantial alibi evidence from the accused, Cooper found. And, while campaigning for re-election as Durham district attorney, Nifong made prejudicial statements in dozens of media interviews, the attorney general found.

If Nifong is disciplined, the bar does not have the power to order him to pay damages to the three men or any of the other people he may have harmed, and the bar trial is entirely separate from any other civil or criminal cases that may arise from Nifong's actions as district attorney.

Under state law, Nifong's case will be heard by an independent three-judge administrative panel including two lawyers and a non-lawyer. A majority decision is enough to reach a verdict.

How the discipline system works:

In North Carolina, the state bar investigates complaints against lawyers for breaches of the code of conduct.

Once complete, an investigation by the bar's grievance committee can result in a formal complaint.

There are 13 disciplinary hearings on the North Carolina State Bar's current docket.

In the past decade, lawyers have been disbarred or suspended in 373 cases in North Carolina.

The complaint against Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong accuses him of making inflammatory statements, misleading the court by saying he had turned over all evidence potentially beneficial to the defense, and withholding DNA results favorable to the defense.

The hearing will be public and carried live by Court TV beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Court of Appeals Building in downtown Raleigh, N.C., and could last up to four days.