Nifong Finally Faces the Music

Durham County, North Carolina prosecuting attorney Mike Nifong is finally facing the music for his actions during the Duke Lacrosse rape scandal. Nifong is now being investigated by two authoritative bodies within the judicial system of North Carolina--the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Association of District Attorneys.

The N.C. Bar has charged Nifong with ethics violations. The N.C. Association of D.A.s has stated that Nifong has become an embarrassment to the noble profession of prosecuting attorneys.

A major voice in North Carolina law, a Duke law professor, has called for Nifong to be removed from the case.

This is all great news.

But my question is, what took them so long? For months it has been obvious to even the most casual observer that Nifong has no case and that his conduct has been reprehensible, negligent, incompetent, politically motivated, and possibly even criminal.

Was the only thing that led North Carolina officials to take these latest steps the threat of involvement of the U.S. Department of Justice? This is certainly how it looks. Democrats in the state who wield an enormous amount of power within the state judicial system essentially let the three innocent young men falsely accused hang on the vine while a prosecutor out of control did his dirty work.

Perhaps the U.S. Attorney General's Office should also investigate the lack of action on the part of the N.C. state judiciary in reigning in an obvious bull-in-a-china-shop who was intent on ruining three young lives for political gain.

Are state Democrats implicated in his scheme as well?

It is interesting that only the prospects of federal intervention got the local legal authorities off their lazy butts. This is simply unconscionable.

As the investigations of Nifong ensue, it is also necessary to look carefully at the entire N.C. judicial system, including the state Democrat party.