Nifong files for bankruptcy as filings are due in Duke civil suit

RALEIGH (AP) -- The disgraced former prosecutor who led the debunked Duke lacrosse rape case has filed for bankruptcy. Mike Nifong cited more than $180 million dollars in liabilities and only $243,898 in assets of real and personal property. He filed for protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday, the same day defendants were required to respond to a sweeping federal civil lawsuit filed in October by the three exonerated players Nifong falsely accused of rape. In the October lawsuit, attorneys for the three players accused Nifong, the city of Durham, police investigators and others of conducting "one of the most chilling episodes of premeditated police, prosecutorial and scientific misconduct in modern American history." (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)