Prosecutor in Duke Case Says He Intends to Resign

"My first reaction was a variation of 'Oh, crap,' " he testified.

Had he taken detailed notes of his discussion with the lab director when he was told of the presence of the other men's DNA -- which he did not -- he would have turned it over to the defense, and they would have known six months earlier.

The ramifications of his pursuit of the allegations also became clearer today, as Reade Seligmann testified about the effect the allegations had on his family.

Seligmann, one of the accused players, choked back tears and brought tears to the eyes of family members when he described how he learned that he had been picked out of a lineup by the accuser. He was in his attorney's office, he said, when the secretary came in and said, "Mike Nifong is on the phone."

"He picks up the phone," Seligmann said, referring to the lawyer. "You could see the color in his face just changing. . . . The room was spinning. My dad just fell to the floor, and I just sat on the ground, and I said, 'My life is over.' "

Seligmann then called his mother.

"I said, 'Mom, are you alone right now?' She said, 'Yeah -- what's going on?' " he testified. "I said, 'She picked me.' I could hear her on the other end of the phone. The life was just sucked right out of her."

But it was the climax of Nifong's testimony that was the day's riveting focal point.

After hours of testimony in which he calmly explained details of the case and showed only a few signs of tension -- nervous eye-blinking and swallowing -- Nifong was asked if he wanted to add anything else.

He did.

The address that followed reflected a remarkable turnabout not only in the legal sense but also personally.

Last year, Nifong had taken on the case with classic prosecutorial bluster. He became a nationally known figure.