Thomas Eoannou, the attorney for the woman accusing Patrick Kane of rape, held a press conference today and claimed that the rape kit, which had reportedly shown no signs of Kane’s DNA on the woman’s genital area or underwear, was tampered with. Eoannou discovered this because the rape kit’s evidence bag was left outside the accuser’s mother’s house.
This is breathtakingly obscene. The accuser’s rape kit should never have left the police station, since it’s evidence. It also throws into doubt the leaked reports on the DNA testing, and the motives of the sources for those leaks.
It’s not at all clear what happened here. Was this an attempt to taunt or intimidate Kane’s accuser? Or was it, as Eoannou said he hopes, a “good Samaritan” trying to tip off the accuser to the tampering?
Tim Graham of the Buffalo News and Julie DiCaro of 670 The Score live-tweeted Eoannou’s statement:
Eoannou brought the evidence bag to the presser:
Update (3:46 p.m.): Erie County Commissioner of Central Police Services John Glascott released a statement today claiming that all the evidence related to Kane’s case is accounted for, including the rape kit and packaging.
Correction (2:01 p.m.): The first sentence of this post stated that none of Kane’s DNA was reportedly found on the accuser, when his DNA was reportedly found under the woman’s fingernails and on her shoulders, just not in her genital area or underwear. The sentence has been corrected.
Correction (2:18 p.m.): The second sentence of this post stated that the rape kit had been found outside the mother’s house, when it was actually the evidence bag. The sentence has been corrected.
Photo: AP
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