Previously Accused Duke Player Breaks Down on Stand

In dramatic testimony today, one of the cleared Duke lacrosse players broke down in tears on a North Carolina witness stand today as he described the moment he learned he'd been accused of rape.

The tearful testimony continued as he described calling his mother and girlfriend to tell them the news. Across the courtroom in the gallery, his mother cried as well. Reade Seligmann also testified that his father "fell to the floor'' upon hearing the news and that the family was forced to borrow $400,000 from a friend to mount a defense against the charges. He said he'd been the victim of death threats from people telling him he is a "dead man walking'' and recalled the enormous media attention that followed him everywhere he went.

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong also took the witness stand on Friday in his own defense, and is expected to be cross-examined Friday afternoon.

Seligmann testified that he told his father, "My life is over. I said, 'How do I tell mom?'"

Seligmann continued to cry as he described the phone call with his mother, Kathy Seligmann.

"I could hear her on the phone,'' he said. "The life was sucked right out of her. I just told her everything was going to be alright."

He said he had a similarly emotional conversation with his girlfriend.

Nifong is facing charges of prosecutorial misconduct from the North Carolina State Bar for his handling of the infamous Duke rape case in which Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans have since been cleared of all charges. If found guilty, the veteran prosecutor could be disbarred and consequently removed from his office as Durham County district attorney.

On the witness stand on Friday, Nifong admitted on the stand that he "crossed the line" with some of this comments about the case.

Nifong has previously acknowledged that he regrets some of the more inflammatory statements he made about the lacrosse players last spring to the local and national media, including calling the team members a "bunch of hooligans," but he maintains he did nothing intentionally unethical.

The charges he faces include withholding potentially exculpatory evidence, making inappropriate public comments about the case and lying to a judge and to state bar investigators. Two of those charges accuse him of making comments that would have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing a case or heightening public condemnation of the accused.

Source : www.abcnews.go.com