NATION : Trial Delayed in Rape of Jogger
A prosecutor in the rape trial of a Central Park jogger revealed surprising new evidence today of a semen stain on the victim’s sock, delaying indefinitely the trial that was to begin in two weeks.
A stunned and angry Justice Thomas Galligan agreed to an indefinite delay in the trial of Yusef Salaam, 16, Antron McCray, 16, and Raymond Santana, 15, that was set to begin April 16 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
“Obviously, I’m very distressed by the fact that a year after the exhibit was in the possession of the police department, it has to be tested,” Galligan told Assistant Manhattan Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Lederer.
The last-minute hearing was called after Lederer alerted the judge that a New York City police serologist last Wednesday discovered the semen stain on one of the jogger’s socks.
Other clothing belonging to the victim, a 29-year-old investment banker, already has been tested by the FBI and failed to definitively link the youths to the attack.
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