Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is "unlikely" to face criminal charges in conjunction with the long-running rape case of which he is a main suspect. A Saturday night report from The Buffalo News, citing three sources "closely familiar" with the investigation, indicates that Kane won't be charged after the alleged incident, which is said to have occurred at his Hamburg, NY home over the summer.
The three sources also said they do not believe the case will be presented to a grand jury.
"This case is going nowhere," one knowledgeable source told The Buffalo News when asked about the possibility of criminal charges.
"I was told ... the case will be administratively dismissed" without being presented to a grand jury, a second knowledgeable source added.
Unsurprisingly, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III would not comment on the case, but other sources have made it clear to The News that there are doubts as to the woman's claims of assault.
It wasn't that long ago that, in a span of about seven days in Sept., the woman's attorney claimed that evidence tampering had occurred after a bag, which was said to have at one time contained the results of the alleged victim's rape kit, was delivered to the woman's house. The attorney, Thomas J. Eoannou, withdrew from the case the next day, suggesting that he had doubts as to how the bag had come into the victim's mother's possession, calling it an "elaborate hoax."
DNA evidence, such as from the woman's actual rape kit, reportedly seems to point to Kane's innocence as well.
Sources close to the case disclosed that DNA tests taken from a "rape kit" conducted on the woman in a local hospital showed no trace of Kane's DNA in her genital area or on her undergarments.
Sedita, speaking in the wake of the "elaborate hoax" involving the alleged rape kit delivered to the mother's home, questioned not when the case would go to a grand jury, but if. Per The News' sources, since then there has been no presentation of new evidence to a grand jury, and there is none anticipated.
Which all seems to point to Kane likely finding his way free and clear of the charges, sooner rather than later.
