Could Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor End Up in Prison?

The three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape last year were declared innocent this week, but that doesn't end the case. Mike Nifong, the district attorney who insisted on continuing the prosecution despite the evidence that led the attorney general to declare the men innocent, is still in office, and he's now facing ethics charges with the state bar. His hearing yesterday with the Disciplinary Hearings Commission didn't go well for him.

But could he have bigger problems than just losing his law license? Joseph Kennedy writes in Slate that he could:

if Nifong indeed committed all of the acts alleged in the ethics complaint, he may also have obstructed justice in violation of state law and committed a federal civil rights crime.The strongest basis for a prosecution on either charge would probably be the allegations that Nifong tried to suppress DNA test results that suggested the innocence of the defendants

As the Duke players themselves have noted, it's horrifying to think about the implications of district attorneys suppressing DNA evidence: It's entirely possible that Nifong railroaded other defendants, and that those defendants didn't have the Duke players' resources to fight back. It's good news that the Duke players won't go to prison. It will also be good news if Nifong does go to prison.