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Report: DNA results leave more questions in Patrick Kane case

Patrick Kane

Patrick Kane

AP

The results of the DNA tests taken from a rape kit from an investigation into Patrick Kane are now available, according to the Buffalo News. The newspaper’s sources said that Kane’s DNA was found on the alleged victim’s shoulder and under her fingernails, but not on her genitals or undergarments.

“The absence of DNA and semen, in itself, does not prove that there was no rape,” Buffalo attorney Florina Altshiler told the paper. “It proves that there was no ejaculation, or possibly, that the perpetrator wore a condom.”

Altshiler, who previously served as a sex-crimes prosecutor in Alaska, is aware of cases where condoms were used in sexual assaults. However, the county’s former DA, Frank J. Clark, told the Buffalo News that incidences of rapists using condoms are “extremely rare.”

Clark also believes this information “could be a game-changer.”

It’s worth noting that while Altshiler, Clark have both followed the Kane case closely, neither of them possessed direct knowledge of the DNA results. The attorneys for Chicago Blackhawks star and his accuser as well as Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III all declined the Buffalo News’ request for comment on the DNA evidence.

As for the reported DNA that was found on the accuser, the Buffalo News sources’ said that might have been the result of casual contact. However, Clark noted that DNA found under the fingernails still could be evidence of a sexual assault.

And as Altshiler told the News, “There are different levels of sexual crimes … you don’t necessarily have to show that there was penetration in order to have a sexual assault.”

Meanwhile, Kane and his accuser are still reportedly attempting to negotiate a settlement, but that would only apply to the civil case.