Bombshell claim makes Kane case even uglier
What a mess. What an awful, ugly, confounding, unknowable mess. The Patrick Kane case — such as it is, without having yet proceeded to a grand jury, without an arrest or a charge — became stranger and uglier and a fiasco on Wednesday. A sexual assault accusation, with almost no exception, is ugly enough to do that on its own.
On Wednesday, Thomas Eoannou, the lawyer for the woman who has accused Kane, the Blackhawks superstar, of sexual assault, made a bombshell claim: That the evidence bag for the rape kit the woman asked for after leaving Kane’s house on Aug. 2 had been delivered, ripped open and empty, to the alleged victim’s mother’s house.
“We have spent (Tuesday) evening, into the early hours of the morning, conferring with law enforcement, former prosecutors, people that have worked at the lab, and ECMC personnel,” said Eoannou. “It is the evidence rape kit evidence bag . . . we confirmed it through the hospital (Tuesday).”
He said, “If you’re looking for a surefire way to scuttle the prosecution, you tamper with the evidence . . . This is a classic example of why victims don’t come forward in a rape case. This is the worst case of victim bashing I’ve ever seen.”
Kane’s attorney, Paul Cambria, held his own press conference. He said any tampering with the DNA evidence would prejudice his client, whom he believes to be the real victim here. DNA test information was leaked to the Buffalo News on Tuesday, and the paper reported there was no Kane DNA in the genital area or undergarments, but his DNA was under her fingernails and on her shoulder. Cambria said, “We’re very happy with the results of the test . . . Unless someone compromises the results up to the technician, we still have a very favourable result.
“It’s a grandstand deal, as far as I’m concerned.”
Erie County Commissioner of Central Police Services John Glascott then put out 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.”
Ask a lawyer, and they will tell you this doesn’t happen. Evidence bags don’t just wind up in the street, much less at a specific door. Was it a threat? A whistleblower? A hoax? A counter-hoax? Would Eoannou be fooled by a hoax, after trying to check it out?
Nobody knew, and it all made you feel kind of sick. Only a few people know what actually happened between Kane and the accuser on that night. We know she left his house and went to hospital and asked for a rape kit. We know Kane believes he will be exonerated, as he said when he was trotted out at Blackhawks camp last week, right before the team president spent 10 minutes talking about the great successes of the organization, tone deaf as can be. We know the Blackhawks invited Kane to camp after conferring with his lawyer.
We know a grand jury has not yet been convened, seven weeks later, but was still understood to be in the works before Wednesday. We know he hasn’t been charged.
When someone famous is accused of sexual assault, the dance steps are predictable. There are lawyers, and sometimes there are leaks.
And there is a certain crowd that masses, reliably, like clockwork. They want the hero to be innocent. They need the hero to be innocent. They proclaim that innocence, with certainty. Wednesday, they were mostly from Chicago, and they kept coming on Twitter. “You raped me. Congratulations. You are now an accused rapist.” “Why does she need a lawyer?” “Innocent until proven guilty. The Cup is looking pretty good by the way.” “He didn’t do it.” And worse.
Fans are fans, and some cheer for their heroes no matter what, until they absolutely can’t. In Baltimore, fans wore Ray Rice jerseys after the video of him striking his fiancée surfaced. In Chicago, Kane is being cheered when he steps on the ice. Fans are allowed to do that. But it says something about sports and its fans that so many will support a hero in a case like this in the same way they they do when they see a blindside hit, and judge it based on which colour jersey delivered it.
This is what sports does. It breeds loyalty, and that loyalty can survive so much. If this was a specious claim, then this woman would have asked to go through a special kind of hell for a highly uncertain payoff even before her name appeared to have been revealed during the press conference today, on the bag. You accuse a famous athlete, a celebrity, and they come with public defenders.
Awful, all of it, awful. This case is being debated in public, aired in press conferences, appears to be a legal fiasco one way or the other, and the Blackhawks pre-season continues. Both sides denied there were any settlement talks, which had earlier been reported by the Buffalo News.
I wrote last week that the Blackhawks should have kept Kane away from camp, with pay, until they know for sure what his legal situation is. It’s not presuming guilt, any more than anybody should presume innocence; it’s accepting that the optics are awful, and bowing to them would not hurt anybody. Kane was pulled off the cover of EA Sports’ NHL 16, which had nothing to do with innocence until proven guilty. He doesn’t have to be in camp.
Wednesday didn’t change that position.
It probably changed something, though.