RALEIGH, N.C. – Mike Nifong, in halting and tearful testimony Friday, announced that no matter how a state disciplinary panel rules on the misconduct charges against him, he will resign as Durham district attorney.

The prosecutor, who still could have his law license revoked by the N.C. State Bar over his handling of the Duke lacrosse case, acknowledged that he had made mistakes.

“Much of the criticism that has been directed at me in this case is justified,” he said. “The allegation … that I am a liar is not justified.”

In cross-examination only minutes later, however, Nifong admitted that he repeatedly made false statements in court over a seven-month period.

In announcing his decision to resign, Nifong said it has “become increasingly apparent … that my presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice.

“It is not fair for the people of my community to be represented by someone who is not held in high esteem by either the members of the community or members of the profession.”

Gov. Mike Easley had not received anything from Nifong late Friday announcing his plans to resign. It would be up to Easley to appoint a district attorney to fill a vacant seat.

The resignation announcement capped a rough week for Nifong at the N.C. Court of Appeals building.

The State Bar has accused him of professional misconduct over his handling of the lacrosse case. He continues his fight today to save his law license.

The three-member panel of the Disciplinary Hearing Commission deciding his fate plans to complete the case and issue its ruling today.

From Tuesday to Friday the Bar put on a case against Nifong that ended with the emotional testimony of Reade Seligmann, one of the three former Duke lacrosse players who for a year battled accusations that they had sexually assaulted a hired escort dancer at a March 2006 team party.

The charges were dropped two months ago by N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, who declared the players innocent.

Seligmann, in halting speech with tears in his eyes, detailed a year in which he feared he might go to prison for more than three decades for a crime he did not commit.

“When I saw Mr. Seligmann,” Nifong said, “I thought that his parents must be proud of him. I am very proud of my son. I want him to be proud of me. And I felt that it was important for him to see this. I always told him that in this case, though I’ve made mistakes, I was trying to do the right thing.”

Nifong’s tearful speech was followed by a tough cross-examination by Bar lawyers who spent the past four days building their case against him.

Under those probing questions Nifong acknowledged that he repeatedly made false statements to the court about DNA evidence he is accused of withholding.

He admitted that before bringing indictments in April 2006 he had learned that DNA from unidentified men had been found on the body and clothing of the accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum.

Nifong said the lacrosse players and their lawyers were “absolutely” entitled to this evidence, but he never gave it to them. His excuse: it was not in the report of a private lab director whom Nifong hired to conduct the DNA tests.

Nifong said he never read the report, despite specific requests for that very evidence from judges and defense lawyers from April through December.

In other testimony, Nifong admitted making numerous inflammatory statements without the facts to back them up.

Nifong acknowledged that he asserted a rape occurred in dozens of interviews to local and national media before reading police reports, speaking with Crystal Mangum, or getting any test results.

He admitted that he was only interested in talking with lacrosse players to gain evidence of their guilt: He did not want to hear their evidence of innocence.

And he said he was surprised that he never used the phrase “alleged victim” in his many public statements: “I can’t believe I did that.”

Yet, in his testimony Friday, Nifong never used the word alleged as he referred to Mangum as “the victim” eight times.

Nifong apologized for how his actions affected the three exonerated players – Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty – their families and Durham.

“To the extent that my actions have caused pain to the Finnertys, Seligmanns and Evanses, I apologize,” Nifong said. “To the extent that my actions have brought disrespect, disrepute to the Bar, to my community, I apologize.”

His wife, Cy Gurney, dabbed her eyes with a white handkerchief as she sat in the courtroom and watched her husband break down.

Some did not buy Nifong’s apology, calling it a scam to dodge disbarment, the toughest penalty the State Bar’s disciplinary panel could hand down.

“This was a cynical ploy designed solely to save his law license,” said Joseph B. Cheshire V, a defense attorney in the case.

“His tepid apology is far too little and far too late,” Cheshire said.

The families of the exonerated players shook their heads in disbelief or dismay numerous times during Nifong’s testimony.

But nothing made them shake their heads more than when Lane Williamson, chairman of the panel deciding the prosecutor’s fate, asked whether, after all the evidence and testimony and the results of the attorney general’s investigation, Nifong now believes that a sexual assault took place.

“I think something happened in that bathroom,” Nifong answered. “Something happened to make everyone leave that scene very quickly.”