Just wanted to point something out.
First, it's quite probable that condoms were used, making DNA matching improbable, but still a standard investigative procedure.
Last week's Durham City Council meeting was aired on-line by a local tv station.
In the meeting, one of the city council members, Howard Clement III (a Lawyer) mentioned that he had heard that not all 46 players who had DNA warrants issued for had provided samples. He further stated that he had heard that some of the players' parents had quickly shipped the players out of state (and out of the country) so they couldn't be compelled to provide DNA.
Now, during the meeting, Howard did come off like he was pontificating, but ever since the meeting (April 6th), I've closely watched the reporting. I've seen the Durham DA (Nifong) and the police release official reports that warrants were issued for the DNA of 46 players. I've seen many, many reports of defense lawyers stating that 46 samples were taken. I've seen newswriters report that DNA reports from the 46 players were delivered - while I've never seen any qote from the DA or official police report stating that 46 DNA samples were collected.
This may be shoddy reporting. The DA has never said it had RECEIVED DNA samples from 46 players. They said warrants were issued for DNA samples of the 46 white players. The DA has also said that it probably would not release the DNA test results. Why would they? They aren't interested in keeping the case in the press. Doing so only gives more information to the defense attorneys and further taints more potential jurors, making thier jobs more difficult.
So why did we hear about this today? More than likely it was a leak provided by the defense lawyers. The DA is required to provide a copy of each report to the player from which the DNA sample was gathered. So, at lease one of the defense lawyers received negative test results. If you are that lawyer, the first thing you need to do to protect your client is leak it to the press that the results of the DNA tests were negative.
What if one of the DNA tests came back positive? We won't hear it until charges are brought - and the DA won't charge anyone until they feel confident in thier ability to get 3 convictions.



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