Judge to suspend Nifong on Tuesday

DURHAM (AP) — A Durham County judge says he plans to suspend Mike Nifong today after learning that the disgraced prosecutor who pursued the false Duke lacrosse rape case planned to stay in office another month.

Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson says he will order the sheriff to prevent Nifong from carrying out any duties as a prosecutor.

Nifong was disbarred for intentional misconduct Saturday and had said he planned to resign as district attorney. Nifong set his resignation date as July 13th in letters to Governor Mike Easley and Hudson, who was overseeing a pending request to have Nifong removed from office.

But Easley says that Nifong should leave office immediately. Hudson initially said Nifong's resignation would take effect before he could officially act on the petition, but reversed himself later yesterday.

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