Page "Prosecutorial misconduct" Paragraph 3

A more recent example of prosecutorial misconduct can be seen in the 2006 Duke lacrosse case.

In that incident, members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team hired a female stripper for a team party.

She went on to accuse three players of raping her at that party.

Making the case even more volatile was the fact that the stripper was black and the three accused players were white.

The actions of the prosecutor in this case, Mike Nifong, drew enormous criticism, as he proceeded with the case despite numerous inconsistencies in the accuser's story, a lack of DNA evidence conclusively linking any player to any sexual assault, and at least two of the accused having solid alibis.

He also made numerous inflammatory statements to the media.

The case against the players eventually collapsed ; all charges were dropped, and the North Carolina Attorney General took the unusual step of declaring the players innocent.

The North Carolina State Bar eventually disbarred Nifong for his actions during this case.