Testimony Blow to Prosecution in N.Y. Jogger Case
A police criminologist testified Thursday that none of the hair found on the Central Park jogger belonged to any of the three youths on trial for the gang-rape and beating of the woman last year.
The testimony from Nicholas Petraco, a retired police detective, marked a blow for the prosecution, which has also failed to link the three suspects to the crime through blood and semen tests.
Defense attorneys have said the results of the previous tests suggested that the rapist was still at large.
Bolstering that speculation, Petraco testified that some stray hair found on the jogger failed to match samples taken from the woman and the three defendants, Antron McCray, 16, Raymond Santana, 15, and Yusef Salaam, 16.
But Petraco, a police lab expert for 22 years, told the jury in state Supreme Court in Manhattan that light-colored pubic and head hair similar to the jogger’s was found on the clothing of Kevin Richardson, a youth who is awaiting trial in the case.
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