With fewer than three weeks left until the District Attorney primary May 2, challengers have begun to criticize incumbent Mike Nifong's handling of an investigation of sexual assault allegations made against several members of the Duke men's lacrosse team.
Candidates Freda Black, former assistant district attorney, and Keith Bishop, local defense lawyer, have accused their Democratic counterpart of rash actions and inappropriate decisions that have in essence allowed the media to convict the accused before charges have been filed.
"He has pursued it miserably," Bishop said. "Whenever a prosecutor has information of allegations he has to be reasoned and judicious. As a result, he can't jump into the media before [he knows the facts] and guarantee arrests."
Nifong has defended the way he has handled the case, and several other local lawyers think he has behaved appropriately or are supporting his candidacy. "I have supported him in this campaign," said Bill Thomas, a defense lawyer in the case and a close friend of Nifong.
Despite serving as members of the defense team in the case, Butch Williams appears in one of Nifong's campaign advertisements, and Kerry Sutton has a Nifong sign in her yard as of Tuesday.
Nifong began speaking with the press at the inception of the case, when a female student from North Carolina Central University claimed she was raped by three members of the men's lacrosse team at a March 13 party.
He frequently granted interviews throughout the early stages of the investigation, when he required 46 of the 47 teammates to give DNA samples and had police search a residence and a dormitory room. Nifong has since stopped speaking directly to the press.
Nifong, who served as an assistant district attorney in Durham before he was appointed district attorney by Governor Mike Easley in April 2005, declined to comment for this article.
At a forum Tuesday at NCCU, Nifong dismissed the idea that the case is related to his political campaign. "As the district attorney, you do not get to choose what crimes occur or when they occur," he said. "This is not about the election. This is about doing justice."
But Bishop said Nifong's actions in the case and media presence are politically motivated. "It was amateurish, it was poorly coordinated, and it casts a long shadow of doubt on the integrity of Nifong's motives," Bishop said. "That's why I drew the conclusion that he was fishing for votes."
Although Nifong has stopped speaking directly to the media, the opposing candidates both said they will refrain from speaking to the media about the case until it was resolved. "The damage that has been done is irreparable-the damage to the community, the damage to Duke's image, and the damage to the judicial system," Black said.
At a candidates' forum Tuesday evening, Black told audience members that although she had previously refrained from commenting about the case, she felt it was necessary to start criticizing Nifong after he spoke at the NCCU forum.
Black said that because of extensive media coverage, it would be "almost an impossibility to find 12 people who know nothing about the case" to serve as jurors, even if a trial were moved to another county.
If charges are filed, a judge could prevent the prosecution from participating in potentially damaging publicity. In addition, defendants could request a change of venue, which would move the trial to another county in North Carolina, said Duke Law Professor Thomas Metzloff.
He said he was surprised by the initial strength of Nifong's statements of the certainty about the guilt of the players because of the comments' potential to taint the jury pool. "People were really stunned at how strongly he expressed his personal beliefs in his version of what happened," Metzloff said. "[Nifong's] lack of experience and the fact that he is in the middle of a political campaign contributed to his inappropriate, but not unethical, response."
Johnny Gaskins, a lawyer based in Raleigh with a background in criminal law, supported Nifong's actions. "I'm not critical of the way he has handled this case," he said. "I think everybody has been playing to the media. Right now, the defense is winning."
Because only Democrats are running for district attorney, the May 2 primary could decide the election. But if one candidate does not receive more than 40 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff election between the top two vote-getters in June.
Jared Mueller contributed to this story.
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