On Politics and Prosecutions

In North Carolina, the state bar proceedings against Duke rape case prosecutor Mike Nifong have been going on this week. Yesterday, some of Nifong's justifications for failing to turn over exculpatory evidence came to light. They are, shall we say, far from persuasive:

The district attorney in charge of the Duke University lacrosse rape case told the North Carolina State Bar he failed to turn over evidence favoring the defense because he was busy campaigning for office, a disciplinary panel was told Thursday.

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong told bar investigators that as he faced "an unprecedented number of challengers" in his first election campaign, 'I was not always able to give the case my full attention.'

Nifong cited his campaign in a letter to the bar as one of several reasons that 'may possibly have contributed to my inadvertent failure to provide the evidence in question.' Portions of the letter were read aloud at the third day of a trial in Raleigh that will determine if Nifong will lose his license to practice law.

Quite apart from the ultimate issue of Nifong's lawyerly future, this highlights a great danger of making the prosecuting attorney an elected officer. It's one things when Congressmen neglect their legislative roles to campaign - it probably keeps them from doing further damage. But it's a far cry from politicking cutting into the time you have to impact the lives of countless defendants.

Politics and law enforcement should be separate spheres, as much as practical.

UPDATE: From Keith Olberman's show tonight, I learn that Nifong resigned during his testimony this afternoon. Don't let the door hit ya' on the ass on the way out, Mike.