For Mike Nifong:
Nifong was sentenced Friday to a single day in jail, having been held in criminal contempt of court for lying to a judge during his pursuit of rape charges against the three falsely accused lacrosse players.
Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III could have sentenced Nifong, who had already been stripped of his law license and had resigned from office, to as many as 30 days in jail and given him a fine as high as $500. Instead, he opted for a largely symbolic punishment — the public humiliation of sending a prosecutor to jail — that he said would help protect the integrity of the justice system.
“If what I impose with regard to Mr. Nifong would make things better or different for what’s already happened, I don’t know what it would be or how I could do it,” Smith said.
It was the latest in a line of punishments for a broken man who once confidently trumpeted to anyone within earshot that a woman hired to perform as a stripper at a March 2006 lacrosse team party had been raped.
Should have gotten the whole month.
srv
Well, we certainly can’t have a prosecutor getting ass-raped in jail like all the folks he sent.
Dennis-SGMM
How many of Nifong’s convictions were rooted in the same sort of behavior as he showed in the Duke case? I’m sure that inquiring lawyers will want to know. His bad judgment in this case will cast a shadow on every case he prosecuted.
Jim Stone
In lieu of Nifong’s negligible jail time, no one (that I can find), has bothered to identified Judge Smith’s political affiliation. Therefore, per natural law, this means the jurist is a Democrat.