Not that this won't be over every news website in the country in about 30 minutes, but since it just got posted, the Herald-Sun is reporting that Mike Nifong is resigning.
I'm haven't the slightest bit of doubt that this will result in yet another, hopefully final, explosion of chest-beating and tut-tutting from the out of town "Friends of Duke" lot. Nifong will be painted as the embodiment of evil, and once again we'll here about the choirboy lacrosse team. Well, there's nothing to be done about it but sit through it and wait for it to pass.
I've already said plenty on this case (see here, here, here, and here), having made it clear my preference for this outcome, but with his resignation a done deal now, I do want to say just a couple more things.
Like over half the city, I didn't vote for Nifong last fall, and have called for his resignation a couple of times (for whatever that's worth). Nifong clearly failed as a DA, not only in the lacrosse case, but in his handling of other matters as well. Beyond his resignation, I think an apology to the lacrosse players is probably in order. But all of the recriminations about his malice and selfishness that have come forth, and I'm sure will continue to come forth over the next couple of weeks, I think cross the line. As I said when Matt Doherty got fired as basketball coach of UNC, it's possible for good, hard working, well intentioned people to fail when they reach high level jobs. They don't need to be run out of town on a rail, but they also don't need to hang on in their positions either. I've said myself that I think his ambition clouded his judgement, but I do firmly believe that he honestly believed the accuser's story, and that many of his missteps came out of a misguided sense of his public duty. Nifong served honorably and exceptionally as an assistant DA for quite a while, and the good of that service shouldn't be completely obliterated by his severe and unforgivable mistakes leading the department. It bears remembering that one of the reasons so many of us found it hard to believe that the case was going so far off of the rails is because of Nifong's long established reputation for carefulness and thoroughness.
Nonetheless, Nifong's tenure as DA is now over, and hopefully we can move on and start processing some other lessons from this whole sordid affair. As I've said before, one that I wish many people, the lacrosse team included, would be: be nice to your neighbors. That way, if someone falsely accuses you of something, they'll be more likely to serve as your character witness and less likely to be outside helping them build the gallows.
Update: The H-S story has been updated, and includes mention that Nifong has indeed apologized. Good for him.
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