Sunday, June 17, 2007

A Lapse of Character


"It’s an illustration of the fact that character — good character — is not a constant. Character is dependent upon the situation. Probably any one of us could be faced with a situation at some point that would test our good character and we would prove wanting. And that has happened to Mike Nifong. But the fact that it has happened and the fact that we have found dishonesty and deceitful conduct requires us in the interest of protection of the public to enter the most severe sanction that we can enter, which is disbarment...It’s been truly — a fiasco is not too strong a word. But it could have resulted from a lapse of character of practically anyone, not just in particular Mike Nifong." - DHC Chair F. Lane Williamson

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've said it elsewhere, but I'll say it here: I really don't believe that a prosecutor starts suppressing evidence, manufacturing evidence, lying to the Court about his evidence, et cetera, when there's someone watching. I suspect that we could go back into Nifong's record and find that he did all these things in other cases, and never got so much as reprimanded for it, which made him think it was just what he was entitled to do to pursue his interests (as opposed to the interests of justice).

Anonymous said...

"Probably any one of us could be faced with a situation at some point that would test our good character and we would prove wanting" Williamson

Sorry Lane you got this wrong!History is full of examples where men & women of integrity died rather than succumb to the dark side. You have worked on too many cases and need to look towards the light.