I'm not up enough on bankruptcy law or punitive damages to know how this could play out. My first thought is to wonder if the punitive damages would be against all the defendants (e.g. the city of Durham and Nifong) or specifically against a particular defendant (e.g. Nifong). As such, defendants that are less able to escape (e.g. the city) would likely bear the brunt of this allowing Nifong to escape after a couple of years have worked their magic on the appeal/collection process.

The city could escape unscathed if it is determined that he abused his office/acted outside the scope of his employment; I would bet the city settles (if they have not already done so - I think Duke itself settled). I don't know if you can get out of punitive damages under Chapter 7 but I would like to see this guy broke for the rest of his life.

I agree that this fellow was an unacceptably aggressive prosecutor. However, I find it disturbing that he has become such a whipping boy of the right. I can't shake the feeling that it's all about race. Several middle-class white men were accused of rape by a black stripper in the south. I can't imagine that this would be such a cause for the right if you simply swap the race, black for white, and keep the rest of the details the same.

Scott, I think the reasoning here is that, at least aspirationally, we judge criminal cases based on the merits rather than the class, gender, or race of the accusers or accusees. We also don't pre-try cases in the press.

Scott
I would agree that there is a big racial element in this but it doesn’t cancel out what is right or wrong. The left are more often guilty taking a side simply because of race or minority status than the right does. The same thing can be said about wither a politician has a D or R behind their name. Dems can’t do any wrong for the left. Rep are usually harsh on any of theirs doing wrong.

However, I find it disturbing that he has become such a whipping boy of the right. I can't shake the feeling that it's all about race. Several middle-class white men were accused of rape by a black stripper in the south. I can't imagine that this would be such a cause for the right if you simply swap the race, black for white, and keep the rest of the details the same.

True, ideally this would have happened regardless of race. However, that not being something that can be changed by a legislature or judge, your choices are allow one guilty person to go free and punish the other, or allow two guilty people to go free in the name of fairness.

Has Nifong already had a civil judgment against him? If not (and I didn't think so), how in the world did he amass $180M in liabilities? I mean, who in their right mind would have fronted that to him? Surely they had to know they would never collect it.