The district attorney who has pursued sexual-assault charges against three Duke University men’s lacrosse players since last spring now finds himself under pursuit by the North Carolina State Bar, which on Thursday filed a complaint against him for behaving unethically in his handling of the case, according to today’s Herald-Sun, a newspaper in Durham, N.C.

The prosecutor, Michael B. Nifong, announced a week ago that, despite repeatedly saying that the players had raped a dancer they had hired for a team party in March, he did not think the evidence now supported rape charges. He said he still planned to prosecute the players for kidnapping and sexual assault. The announcement, on a Friday two days before Christmas Eve, drew withering criticism from Duke University’s president, along with Duke alumni, defense lawyers, and other supporters of the players.

According to the Herald-Sun, the State Bar, which could disbar Mr. Nifong, has accused him of a range of misconduct, including “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation” that tends to prejudice a case, as well as “extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused.”