RALEIGH, N.C. --A lab director who tested DNA in the Duke lacrosse rape investigation testified Wednesday that the district attorney never asked for a final report on his work but that he and Mike Nifong did not conspire to hide evidence from the defense.
"We did not withhold anything," said Dr. Brian Meehan.
The North Carolina State Bar has charged Nifong, the Durham County district attorney, with violating rules of professional conduct by how he handled allegations that an exotic dancer was sexually assaulted at a party thrown by Duke's lacrosse team.
One of the charges cited by the bar said Nifong kept from the defense details of test results that found none of the players' DNA matched material found in and on the accuser.
Despite those results, Nifong won indictments against former players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans -- all of whom were later cleared by state prosecutors, who called them "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse."
If convicted by the disciplinary committee, Nifong could be stripped of his license to practice law in the state.
Meehan said Nifong hired his private lab, DNA Security Inc., to analyze evidence samples from the accuser for male DNA. He said that an initial report he provided to Nifong was never intended to be all-inclusive and that Nifong never asked for a final and more complete report on his lab's findings.
"We don't typically force-feed reports to clients," Meehan said. "When he was ready for a final report, we thought he would let us know."
In May, Nifong released that initial report to defense attorneys, who quickly trumpeted the news that Meehan's lab had been unable to find a conclusive match between the accuser and any lacrosse players.
However, it wasn't until much later that the defense received the background details of the test results, which indicated there was genetic material from several males found in the accuser's underwear and body but none from any member of the lacrosse team.
In December, Meehan said he didn't include that information in the May report as part of an agreement with Nifong. Under cross-examination Wednesday by Nifong's attorney, David Freedman, Meehan said he was concerned only that releasing all that
information would have violated the privacy of those tested.
But Meehan said that had Nifong asked for the information, he would have turned it over. He hinted that defense attorneys should have noticed a reference to the additional test information in the May report, though it didn't specifically state what was available.
"I have to take the blame -- it was my report, and I didn't do my job, and I expected maybe too much," Meehan said. "But I'm surprised that a lawyer reading the report ... would not see that and say, 'Hey, what's he talking about?'"
Joseph Cheshire, an attorney for Evans, said after the hearing that the defense never would have learned about the detailed test results if they hadn't asked a judge to order Nifong to turn them over.
"That's the key," Cheshire said. "There'd have never been a 'final report.' That's the whole problem here."
Also Wednesday, Durham police investigator Benjamin Himan testified that Nifong never asked him to withhold evidence and didn't coach him before his grand jury appearance. But Himan also said Nifong knew about the accuser's history of mental illness and a previous accusation of rape that didn't lead to an arrest before he decided to seek indictments.
During testimony Tuesday, Himan said he was concerned that authorities didn't have enough evidence to indict Seligmann. Himan was questioned about that belief Wednesday by Dudley Witt, another member of Nifong's legal team.
"[Nifong] said if you believe her in one part of the story, you have to believe her on the other part of the story," Himan testified. "You can't pick and choose."
Seligmann attended the hearing Wednesday, joined by his parents and attorney Jim Cooney, who has said Himan's account was further proof that Nifong should have backed off the case.