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The three Duke lacrosse players once charged with rape are off the hook. But the man who brought the case against them, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, faces a trial of his own in June. The North Carolina Bar Association has charged Nifong with mishandling the Duke case, violating rules of ethical conduct by withholding evidence, lying to a judge and making inappropriate comments about the case to the press. Even Nifong's friends expect the punishment to be severe -- anything from suspended his law license to permanent disbarment. Either way, Nifong would lose his seat as district attorney....

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DURHAM - District Attorney Mike Nifong will have an opportunity April 13 to tell an N.C. State Bar panel why he thinks part of the case against him should be dropped. The hearing, before the Disciplinary Hearing Committee, is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the third-floor courtroom of the N.C. Bar Building, 208 Fayetteville St., Raleigh. The bar has charged Nifong, a veteran prosecutor, with violations of ethical and professional conduct over his handling of the case in which three members of the Duke University lacrosse team were accused of sexually assaulting an escort service dancer at a team party....

Three North Carolina State Senate Democrats have initiated legislation that would provide a procedure for the North Carolina State Bar to act on the §7A-66 affidavit filed in February. The affidavit seeking the removal of Durham County DA Mike Nifong from office was stalled indefinitely by County Senior Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson despite a statutory mandate requiring him to act within thirty days of the filing. The proposed legislation would remedy Hudson's delay by providing an immediate, although temporary, avenue for the protection of the public from a rogue DA supported by a Judge willing to ignore the letter...

The former prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case didn't violate the constitutional rights of the three charged players, his attorneys said in a renewed effort to have some of the ethics charges against him dismissed. In papers filed last week, attorneys for District Attorney Mike Nifong added to their argument that the players' attorneys received a report and its underlying data on DNA testing well before any trial. "That Nifong disclosed both the report and the underlying data later than the Duke defendants would have preferred does not turn Nifong's disclosure, or failure to make what the defendants...

A North Carolina State Bar response to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong's request for dismissal of some of the charges against him suggests that Nifong has attempted to skirt the system in his handling of the Duke lacrosse case. In a legal brief filed Monday, the bar suggests Nifong wants the organization to interpret the law according to his view of it. They also said they don't buy Nifong's explanation for withholding DNA evidence, and claimed he's twisting words to make his argument fit.

Durham — A trial date is now set for the ethics complaint filed against Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong. . . The bar takes issue with comments Nifong made early-on in the case. Nifong's trial is set for May 11. He hired an attorney from Winston-Salem to defend him. A three-member panel will decide guilt or innocence, and then, depending on the outcome, impose a sentence. That could be anything from a warning to being disbarred.