DURHAM, N.C., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Former District Attorney Mike Nifong pleaded innocent to a criminal contempt of court charge in Durham, N.C., where he used to prosecute others.
Nifong was stripped of his law license this month and must now face Judge W. Osmond Smith III on the charge, which arose from the Duke lacrosse case, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported Thursday.
If found in contempt, Nifong may face jail time.
Smith, the Superior Court judge assigned to the Duke lacrosse case, entered an order against Nifong in June alleging that the former lawyer lied to him on Sept. 22, 2006, over the results of a DNA test prepared by Brian Meehan, director of a private DNA-testing lab in Burlington.
Those tests revealed that players from the Duke lacrosse team were innocent of raping a woman who had accused them of the act.
But, Nifong's lawyer, Jim Glover, claims that Nifong hadn't read the full DNA report at the time.
"I think you will find that although his statements were not literally true, they were not willful, purposeful lies," Glover said in the News & Observer report.
The trial could extend till Friday.
