RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina State Bar has granted Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong a five-day extension to file a written response to ethics charges leveled against him for his handling of the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case.
Nifong's response to the ethics charges was due Friday, but the bar moved the deadline to Wednesday because one of Nifong's attorneys, Dudley Witt, was ill.
The bar has accused Nifong of withholding evidence from lawyers defending three lacrosse players charged with sexually assaulting a stripper, of lying to the court and to bar investigators, and making misleading and inflammatory comments about the players.
Legal experts have said Nifong could be disbarred if he's convicted.
Last spring, Nifong won grand jury indictments on charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping against lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans. All three have strongly maintained their innocence.
Nifong dropped the rape charges in December after the 28-year-old accuser changed a key detail in her story, and later turned the case over to state prosecutors.
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