Mike Celizic

The news that Mike Nifong tried to sneak out of his office three days before Christmas, when catching up on the news is never a lower priority for a public in the last pre-holiday frenzy of shopping, decorating, traveling and planning, was hardly shocking: He was dropping rape charges against three members of the Duke lacrosse team.

Disgusting is a better way to describe the action and the manner in which it was taken. It has long been clear that the Durham prosecutor had no evidence to prove rape that would stand up in court against Reade Seligmann, 20, Collin Finnerty, 20, and David Evans, 23. But Nifong rode the case through both a primary and general election before finally dropping the most damaging charges against the three.

He said he still intends to pursue kidnapping and sexual assault charges, but the odds are long those will make it to trial, either. One of the accused has already established an alibi with ATM records and the electronic entry system at his dorm. Another says he also has an alibi.

The alleged “victim” has never been able to identify any of the men she says attacked her with any certainty that would withstand even an elementary cross-examination. Both women who agreed to strip for money at the party have changed their stories repeatedly, and the second woman has been on “60 Minutes” telling the late Ed Bradley that she didn’t think any crime was committed.

Yet, still Nifong carries on in a campaign that has long since had no purpose other than to destroy the reputations and futures of three young men.

The accused are not entirely without blame. They did what young men have been doing since the dawn of time: They acted stupidly. They drank a lot — with some of them being underage, which is a crime — and they hired two strippers to provide entertainment; that’s not a crime.

Drunken athletes and naked women are a volatile mix to begin with. Add the fact that the dancers were black and poor and the athletes were white and wealthy, and you had the makings of a true tragedy.

And when you holler, “Rape!” you’ve got a situation that’s out of control.

When the case broke in April, we heard the word and we were told the circumstances and we fell over each other in our rush to condemn the athletes. We’ve heard so many similar stories over the years, and we know enough about the powerful effects of testosterone and beer that we were willing to believe the worst.

I’d say this should slow all of us down a step the next time tawdry charges are filed against an athlete, but it would be fruitless. We’ll respond the same way, with knee-jerk condemnations.

That’s good for people like Nifong, to whom the case must have seemed sent from heaven, an answer to impious prayers. He was in danger of being voted out of office by blacks who didn’t think his office was looking out for their interests. Here was a chance to show how tough he could be in defending the defenseless.

There was only one problem: From early in the investigation, it was clear there were a lot of Tawana Brawley-like problems with the accuser’s story: It kept changing, she was passed out shortly afterward on alcohol and who-knows-what else, there was no DNA evidence, there was no corroborating testimony from the other dancer, the photo line-up used to identify the three was fatally flawed, the charges were filed without interviewing the accuser — there’s probably more, but those are the highlights.

Jim Rogash / Getty Images The Week in Sports Pictures The nation grieved for those hurt, killed and affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. After one of the suspects was caught on Friday — following a day-long lockdown and manhunt — sports returned to Boston over the weekend.

I have lawyer friends who are disgusted with what Nifong’s done to their profession. He’s not only smeared the three players, he’s dragged an entire profession even deeper into the muck of public opinion.

Nifong is the worst sort of public servant: a coward. When the story broke back in April, he made a lot of incriminating statements meant to prejudice a case that never existed. He allowed the alleged “victim” to identify her supposed attackers by looking at mug shots that did not include any random pictures of people who were not on the lacrosse team — a procedure that criminologists say is just wrong.

Then, when the defense started to unearth evidence that supported the athletes’ avowals of innocence, Nifong scurried into his hole and refused to speak. He used the case to get  reelected. He accomplished that goal in November. Now that he no longer needs it to convince Durham’s African-American voters that he’s on their side, he’s doing what he should have done months ago: He’s dropping the rape charges.