‘Elaborate hoax’ adds to bizarre nature of Kane case

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A sex-assault allegation against hockey star Patrick Kane is faltering, with investigators' attention now turning to the question of whether the alleged victim was in on what the prosecutor describes as an "elaborate hoax" committed by her mother.

"The question in my mind is not 'when' this case will go to a grand jury, it's 'if' this case will go to a grand jury," Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita told a news conference on Friday.

The case raises questions about the dangers both to accused athletes and alleged victims when allegations are played out in the court of public opinion before being fully investigated. It also puts the spotlight on professional sports franchises and when they should suspend or discipline an athlete under investigation. Mr. Kane is attending the Chicago Blackhawks training camp, and maintains his innocence. He has been in trouble before – accused at the age of 20 of assaulting a cabbie (he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge) and, three years later, seen intoxicated in a series of photographs on social media.

Kane's lawyer, Paul Cambria, called the star player, who at 26 has already been on three Stanley Cup-winning teams, the real victim in the case. "People keep using this word – 'victim, victim' – you don't know that till all the facts are in. Then you decide who the victim is." The alleged victim's lawyer Thomas Eoannou called it "the worst case of victim-blaming I've ever seen."

Amid a flurry of events – the alleged victim's mother saying that she found evidence bags stuffed into her doorway; her daughter's lawyer (Eoannou) publicly raising questions about evidence-tampering; that lawyer withdrawing from the case soon after, saying the mother misrepresented the story of the bags – Sedita said he was breaking with his usual "vow of silence" in order to defend the justice system's integrity.

Sedita, who is seeking election as a judge on the New York State Supreme Court, is from a long line of jurists. His father and uncle were state supreme court judges; his grandfather was a Buffalo mayor. "The media have slammed him for being soft on crime," Steven Cohen, litigation chair at the Buffalo firm HoganWillig, said in an interview. "He would say, 'That's not true, innocent till proven guilty, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' He's one of the few DAs to take that seriously. He will go where the evidence takes him."

Sedita called the public airing of allegations, counter-allegations and just plain speculation "a circus," "nuts," "bizarre" – "I started getting all these e-mails and tweets … it's breaking into the football game [Patriots vs Bills]."

In an extraordinary display with few if any direct counterparts in recent Canadian history, he sought to show that the evidence has been kept secure.

Rape kits are not kept in plastic bags, he said, but in boxes – he showed reporters an example of such a box – and he played video of a police officer collecting the alleged victim's boxed rape kit from a sexual assault examiner at 11:39 a.m. and delivering it to the police department at 12:06 (the video had a time stamp). Soon after, the video showed the box being placed in an evidence locker.

"Obviously there's been an effort to create a hoax, to manufacture a perception that forensic evidence cannot be trusted," Sedita said.

Cambria has confirmed news reports from anonymous sources that forensic tests found none of Kane's DNA in her genital area. A woman reportedly in her twenties alleges that Kane raped her at his waterfront home outside Buffalo on Aug. 2.

Sedita said he is obliged under legal rules to tell the lawyer of the accused when evidence appears that may exonerate him; while some argue that such an obligation exists only when charges have been laid, he said he felt that in these circumstances, it applied. He also told the lawyer for the alleged victim, he said.

None of this necessarily means the sex-assault allegations will not result in charges. The police investigation into those allegations is continuing, he said. But the "investigation within an investigation" will turn to the alleged victim, whom he described as the "complaintant": "Did the complainant herself participate and/or know of this ruse? That's the important part and that's what we have to investigate. A child is not usually guilty of the sins perpetrated by the parent."

Sedita said that, based on his knowledge of New York state laws, the mother cannot be charged. "If you lie under oath, that's a crime. If you present to a court of law dummied-up evidence, that's a crime." Lying to an attorney is not a crime, he said, adding that he has not had time to read the statute books thoroughly to be sure.

Nor has he spoken yet to the alleged victim about the supposed evidence bags, he said.

William Trudell, the chair of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said in an interview that the case shows the dangers of trying a case in the news media before it reaches a court. "Why do we need a court?" he asked. "It's a classic example of misuse of the criminal justice system and the press."

Cohen said intense media coverage has created "an atmosphere full of wild speculation and these irregularities. This is not a typical representation of the criminal-justice system in the United States."