Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong today issued what in his mind passes for an apology to the three Duke University lacrosse players who he had indicted, and planned to prosecute based upon the lies of Crystal Mangum, and whose lives he tried so hard to destroy. Nifong, of course, couches his not so mea culpa with such phrases as “to the extent that” and continues to try and defend his actions in the Duke rape case, claiming that
If I did not want to subject … my own performance to such scrutiny—if, in other words, I had anything to hide—I could have simply dismissed the cases myself … The fact that I instead chose to seek that review should, in and of itself, call into question the characterizations of this prosecution as `rogue’ and `unchecked.’
Listening to Mr. Nifong one feels as though perhaps one has fallen through the looking glass. Joe Cheshire, the lead attorney for David Evans, apparently would agree with my assessment:
It’s not an apology. It’s an excuse. It’s an attempt at an excuse,” Cheshire said. “It’s not an acceptance of responsibility. It’s a self- serving attempt to excuse bad behavior.
Perhpaps Mr. Nifond should try again.