More bad news for Mike Nifong

On Thursday, the North Carolina state bar filed an ethics complaint against the embattled DA in the Duke lacrosse rape case. Now the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys have called for him to step down from the case. Via ABC News:

Dec. 29, 2006 — In yet another moral blow to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for the prosecutor to step down from the Duke lacrosse case.

The group, which represents district attorneys from across North Carolina, said in a statement that “it is in the interest of justice and the effective administration of criminal justice that Mr. Nifong immediately withdraw and recuse himself from the prosecution.”

“It’s extraordinarily unusual and it means a great deal,” said Joshua Marquis, a district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore.

The district attorney group also called for the case to be reassigned and handed over to “another prosecutorial authority.”

The statement was prompted by charges of ethics violations against Nifong filed Thursday by the North Carolina bar. Those allegations accuse Nifong of making inappropriate comments about the case in a series of press interviews early in the proceedings.

“As prosecutors, we do not try our cases in the media. We do not file charges frivolously,” Marquis, who is active in the National District Attorneys Association, told ABC News.

“I do not know what the merit of the charges are, but Mr. Nifong has not brought respect to our profession,” Marquis said. “Some of his actions have brought great disrepute on the profession of prosecution.”

Yeah, I’ll say.