Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita told the media today that no one tampered with the evidence in the sexual assault case against Chicago Blackhawks player Patrick Kane. All the evidence remains secured in police custody.
Sedita said the situation about the bag is an “elaborate hoax” from the accuser’s mother.
The press conference took this angle because the accuser’s lawyer Thomas Eoannou stepped down from the case after officers revealed the alleged rape kit bag that appeared on her mother’s porch was indeed fake.
Sedita showed the audience that rape kits are placed in boxes, not bags.
He showed a video of the officers handling the kit, which show nothing placed in a bag.
However, the accuser changed her top at her mother’s house before she went to the hospital. A nurse gave the girl the brown bag for the top, but Sedita also said it’s not normal to give evidence bags to civilians. The mother is the last person who possessed the bag.
Sedita informed reporters the hoax will not impact the investigation, unless the accuser took part in it. He also “does not expect criminal charges” against the mother since “it is not illegal to lie to a private lawyer.”
It is the first time Sedita acknowledged the case against Kane. But he also admitted he “would not commit to bring the case before a grand jury.” The Chicago Tribune notes that Sedita brings “cases before grand juries even when he doesn’t intend to prosecute.” But these revelations could end the investigation.
“The question in my mind isn’t when this case goes to a grand jury…it’s if this case goes to a grand jury,” he stated.
Earlier this week sources told The Buffalo News that Kane’s DNA does not appear below the woman’s waist or on her undergarments.
Early Thursday morning, social media lit up after Eoannou held a press conference about this alleged bag left on the porch. He constantly insisted it was not a hoax and an authentic evidence bag. He also said he was worried about the evidence in the rape kit and called for an independent investigation.
“Yesterday, the rape-kit evidence bag was anonymously delivered to the home of my client’s mother,” he declared to the media, adding:
We know this to be the evidence bag that once contained the rape-kit evidence. We know this. It contains my client’s birth date. It contains the location where the rape kit was done. And it confirms the nurse’s initials who performed the rape kit. It is authentic. As you can see from the pictures, this evidence bag has been ripped open. The purpose of an evidence bag is to protect the items of evidence from tampering. The bag itself is even critical evidence to the chain of custody. It never leaves law enforcement or the district attorney’s office.
But only hours later, Erie County Commissioner of Central Police Services John Glascott announced the evidence is still in police custody.
“All evidence related to this case that was given to Erie County Central Police Services by the Town of Hamburg Police Department is accounted for and remains in its original packaging in the possession of Erie County Central Police Services,” he said. “This includes the evidence in the rape kit and the packaging itself. This evidence has been analyzed and reports of that analysis sent to the appropriate agencies.”
Eoannou broadcasted his resignation Thursday night. He told reporters he no longer had “confidence in the way a ripped-open evidence bag came into his possession.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.