Judge Suspends Prosecutor Disbarred After Duke Case

Jun 20, 07:29 AM

Current Headlines: From wire reports

Mike Nifong, the disbarred district attorney of Durham County in North Carolina, was served an order at his home Tuesday suspending him from office and taking his parking pass and office key.

The suspension order, served by the county sheriff pending Nifong's resignation, cut short Nifong's plans to stay in office four more weeks. On Friday he announced plans to resign, and on Saturday he was disbarred by a state ethics panel. He then told the governor he would resign July 13.

On Tuesday, a bill that would direct Gov. Mike Easley to remove Nifong from office won approval from the state House, though it remained unclear how quickly the governor could act.

Easley has pledged to sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches his desk. The measure, approved by the House 116-0, won unanimous Senate approval in April but must go back there for a second vote - today at the earliest - for consideration of minor changes made in House committees.

The ethics panel ruled that Nifong had made inflammatory remarks, withheld DNA evidence and misled a judge in the case of three Duke lacrosse players who were falsely accused of sexual assault.

The county's senior judge, Orlando F. Hudson Jr., said Monday night that those findings allowed him to suspend Nifong immediately, with pay, for willful misconduct and bringing the office into disrepute.

Beth Brewer, a Durham resident who led a campaign opposing Nifong in the 2006 election and who had filed a petition for removal with Hudson, said she was "flabbergasted" and "appalled" that Nifong had showed up for work Monday and tried to delay his departure.

Nifong declined to comment. His wife, Cy Gurney, said in a phone interview that Nifong, 56, would have left earlier if Hudson had talked to him. She said her husband learned about the suspension order from a newspaper and was stunned and further humiliated. She said Nifong had wanted to stay until July 13 to assure an orderly transition.

The New York Times News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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