Evidence tampered with in Patrick Kane rape case, attorney says
BUFFALO, New York (WLS) -- The evidence bag that once contained the rape kit of the woman accusing Chicago Blackhawks player Patrick Kane of sexual assault was left at her mother's door, the alleged victim's attorney said.
"This concerns the integrity of that evidence. Yesterday, the rape kit evidence bag was anonymously delivered to the home of my client's mother," attorney Thomas Eoannou said. "We went to great links to authenticate that. That is the evidence sticker. That is the evidence bag. We confirmed it though the hospital yesterday and we had a number of law enforcement come in. This is no hoax."
Kane is accused of sexually assaulting the woman in his suburban Buffalo, New York home in August.
"Has anybody authenticated this bag as the bag that held the evidence? Has that happened yet?" Kane's attorney Paul Cambria said. "Is this the evidence bag? If so, how did it get out the lab or wherever it was? How did it get to her house?"
"The purpose of an evidence bag is to protect the items of evidence from tampering. The bag itself is even critical evidence for the chain of custody. It never leaves law enforcement or the district attorney's office," Eoannou said. "I have never seen an evidence bag outside of a police lab, a prosecutor's office or a courtroom, let alone find one in the doorway of a rape victim's mother's home."
Eoannou said law enforcement authorities and prosecutors confirmed the bag is "authentic." However, the Hamburg Police Department handling the rape investigation in New York posted a statement to Facebook that it has "documentation that unequivocally demonstrates that its handling of the evidence and the integrity of its chain of custody of evidence in this case is unassailable."
Eoannou is calling for an independent investigation by another law enforcement agency.
"We need to bring in the FBI, or state troopers, or some other law enforcement agency to find out who had that bag, who put it in my client's mother's doorstep," Eoannou said. "There was no doorbell. There was no knock. She came home for lunch yesterday and immediately called our office and brought it down. We immediately alerted the district attorney's office."
The Hamburg Police Department's Facebook post also indicated authorities would "cooperate with any authorized investigation regarding the handling of evidence."
The Erie County Commissioner of Central Police Services John Glascott also issued a statement, "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. 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 will turn the bag found on the doorstop over to law enforcement officials, he said.
Cambria also said Wednesday that none of Kane's DNA was found "from the waist down" of the alleged victim.
"If I'm someone who doesn't like the results and I want them to go away or not be considered, I'd have all the incentive in the world to want them to be compromised," Cambria said.
Kane has not been charged in the case. He maintains he did nothing wrong and apologized for the "distraction."
