Dakota Valkyrie
April 13th, 2009, 09:27 PM
The Erie County District Attorney's Office is backing up its evidence in a child-rape case with a number: 99.9999995.
That is the percentage of probability that a 32-year-old man impregnated an 11-year-old girl at an Erie residence in April 2008, according to the results of DNA tests that the District Attorney's Office received Wednesday.
The tests were done on blood samples from the girl's son, who was born in her native Dominican Republic in December, a prosecutor said. An Erie County judge had allowed the girl, now 12, to leave Erie to return to the Dominican Republic to be with relatives.
The accused, James D. DiNicola, has denied since his arrest in August that he had sex with the girl and fathered the boy. Erie police charged him with the first-degree felony of rape of a child and eight other offenses based on statements from the girl.
The results of the DNA tests state that the "probability of paternity" for DiNicola is 99.9999995 percent, Hirz said.
[...]
DiNicola's lawyer, Gene Placidi, declined to comment Wednesday. He has said the DNA testing is the critical piece of evidence in the case.
If the DNA testing withstands a court challenge, the test results would almost certainly debilitate the defense. And if DiNicola is convicted, either through a plea or a jury trial, the sentencing judge could consider how the defense strategy -- which prompted the need for the DNA tests -- affected the victim.
[...]
Erie police accused DiNicola of first sexually assaulting the girl in the spring of 2007 and police said the last assault was in April 2008 -- on the day before the girl's 12th birthday.
Police said the girl's mother suspected the girl was pregnant. She took the girl to a doctor, who confirmed the pregnancy. The girl then spoke to police.
In addition to charging DiNicola with the sex-related offenses, police also accused him of simple assault, based on an allegation that he put a gun to the girl's head, according to the charging information.
The girl's mother also told authorities that DiNicola threatened her daughter with a gun, according to a protection-from-abuse order the mother filed against DiNicola in August. The mother in the PFA claimed DiNicola told her daughter not to say anything about the girl's pregnancy "because he would go to jail for a long time if she said something."
"He told her to tell her mom that it happened in school with a boy in the bathroom," the mother said in the PFA. "He told her to say she don't remember his name or face."
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090409/NEWS02/304089888/-1/NEIGHBORS
That is the percentage of probability that a 32-year-old man impregnated an 11-year-old girl at an Erie residence in April 2008, according to the results of DNA tests that the District Attorney's Office received Wednesday.
The tests were done on blood samples from the girl's son, who was born in her native Dominican Republic in December, a prosecutor said. An Erie County judge had allowed the girl, now 12, to leave Erie to return to the Dominican Republic to be with relatives.
The accused, James D. DiNicola, has denied since his arrest in August that he had sex with the girl and fathered the boy. Erie police charged him with the first-degree felony of rape of a child and eight other offenses based on statements from the girl.
The results of the DNA tests state that the "probability of paternity" for DiNicola is 99.9999995 percent, Hirz said.
[...]
DiNicola's lawyer, Gene Placidi, declined to comment Wednesday. He has said the DNA testing is the critical piece of evidence in the case.
If the DNA testing withstands a court challenge, the test results would almost certainly debilitate the defense. And if DiNicola is convicted, either through a plea or a jury trial, the sentencing judge could consider how the defense strategy -- which prompted the need for the DNA tests -- affected the victim.
[...]
Erie police accused DiNicola of first sexually assaulting the girl in the spring of 2007 and police said the last assault was in April 2008 -- on the day before the girl's 12th birthday.
Police said the girl's mother suspected the girl was pregnant. She took the girl to a doctor, who confirmed the pregnancy. The girl then spoke to police.
In addition to charging DiNicola with the sex-related offenses, police also accused him of simple assault, based on an allegation that he put a gun to the girl's head, according to the charging information.
The girl's mother also told authorities that DiNicola threatened her daughter with a gun, according to a protection-from-abuse order the mother filed against DiNicola in August. The mother in the PFA claimed DiNicola told her daughter not to say anything about the girl's pregnancy "because he would go to jail for a long time if she said something."
"He told her to tell her mom that it happened in school with a boy in the bathroom," the mother said in the PFA. "He told her to say she don't remember his name or face."
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090409/NEWS02/304089888/-1/NEIGHBORS