Durham, N.C.
North Carolina prosecutors this week dropped kidnapping and sexual assault charges against three Duke University lacrosse players, bringing to a close a racially charged case that had captivated the nation. District Attorney Mike Nifong brought the case last year after an African-American exotic dancer claimed that the white athletes had raped her at a party. But rape charges were dropped in December, after the woman said she was not sure she had been sexually penetrated. Now the remaining charges have been dropped. In January, the North Carolina attorney general’s office took over the case from Nifong, who now faces charges that he improperly withheld exculpatory DNA evidence from the defense. If a bar panel upholds the ethics charges, Nifong could be disbarred.
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