Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Grand Jury May Decide The Direction Of The Patrick Kane Case

09/05/2015 at 7:18am EDT

from Dan Herbeck, Lou Michel and Tim Graham of the Buffalo News,

For more than a month, Town of Hamburg police and the District Attorney’s Office have been investigating the young woman’s allegations that Kane raped her in his Hamburg lakefront home early on the morning of Aug. 2 after meeting her in a downtown Buffalo nightclub and inviting her to his home for a private gathering. The investigation has been conducted in strict secrecy, with a few details leaking out through sources on both sides of the case.

Sedita’s predecessor as district attorney, Frank J. Clark, and longtime Buffalo defense attorney Mark J. Mahoney both told The News that they think Sedita is making the right move in presenting the case to a grand jury.

“If I were in his shoes, I would probably do the same thing – put the evidence before an impartial body of citizens and let them hear as much evidence as possible about both sides,” Clark said. “You have a young woman who has made a very serious allegation, and you have a very high-profile athlete who, I would assume, is claiming he didn’t do it. I would give both Kane and the woman who made the accusation an opportunity to tell their stories before the grand jury.”

While the district attorney cannot force Kane to testify before the grand jury, there may be good reasons why Kane may want to testify, Mahoney said.

“Should he testify? … That can be a very hard decision for a defense attorney to make,” Mahoney said. “Some defense attorneys are strongly against having their clients appear before a grand jury, because sometimes, clients make mistakes. But grand jury testimony can also be a very good tool for a defense attorney. It’s his opportunity to get his client’s side of the story out there before the grand jury.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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