There may be a difference, but this case was being heard in front of a judge, well several. It was being taken to trial rapidly, and then one of the defense lawyers found exculpatory evidence that Nifong hid. Sometime after that discovery, Nifong recused himself, at which point the State AG took over. You make it sound like it wasn’t going to get to a trial. Those men saw the insides of courtrooms for months on end. Their families and their lives were tied up in knots. It was angst every single day.
I probably don’t have enough knowledge to comment with authority.