To believe that Nifong is blindly forging ahead with a bogus case simply to get elected to a job he had to be nudged into taking (he was appointed when a previous D.A. became a judge) goes against what colleagues and even courtroom adversaries have said about him: That he’s fair and apolitical.
Bourlon says Nifong, a former math teacher and social worker who went to work in the DA’s office 28 years ago as an unpaid assistant, is not that kind of prosecutor.
“He doesn’t hold cards back and play games,” says Bourlon. “It’s just not his way.”
And he does dismiss cases; his office last year dropped 44 percent of all felony charges it filed, before they went to trial.
While Warden doesn’t think Nifong can win a conviction in the Duke case, he concedes that the district attorney is under no ethical obligation to drop it “if he thinks the person is guilty.”
After an indictment has been returned, it can be tough to walk away from a case, notes the prosecutor in another high-profile rape case, Mark Hurlbert of Eagle County, Colo., who brought charges against NBA star Kobe Bryant in 2003.
“Your ethical burden does not outweigh this feeling, that you put the time and effort into this case. You want to see it through,” says Hurlbert, who dropped the charges against Bryant when the accuser, battered by defense leaks and media scrutiny, withdrew her cooperation.
“We were ready to go to trial,” says Hurlbert, who adds he hasn’t seen anything yet that makes him think Nifong should drop his case or appoint a special prosecutor.
Gov. Easley, meanwhile, has no intention of asking Nifong to step aside, spokeswoman Sherri Johnson says.
Nifong, facing election in November, says he expects to go to trial next spring, and he intends to prosecute the case himself — if he’s still in office.
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