A man whose DNA linked him to three brutal sex attacks — but who will soon be released thanks to mistakes by the Bronx district attorney’s office — ridiculed prosecutors Sunday for the botched job.
“It’s a joke,” Brian Brockington said in a phone interview from Rikers Island. “If they had my DNA, how come I’m only in here on assault?”
Brockington, 35, was arrested on rape charges in 2007 and his cousin Rodney Howard, 36, was arrested two years later after their DNA matched evidence from a 1993 gun-point attack on a 29-year-old woman.
But because of a police backlog, the DNA evidence from the crime wasn’t processed for nearly a decade — and prosecutors filed charges a day after the crime’s 10-year statute of limitations expired, said Steven Reed, spokesman for the Bronx DA.
The DA’s office realized their error only after the cousins were arrested — and prosecutors were forced to drop the rape charges.
Two other cases against Brockington were also dismissed — one involving the rape of a drunken woman at a Soundview party in 2003 and sex-abuse charges stemming from a 1997 attack on a Bronx woman — because of “evidentiary issues,”including uncooperative witnesses who refused to testify, Reed said.
“We couldn’t make a case without them,” Reed said of the victims.
Brockington poked fun of Bronx prosecutors when told his DNA linked him to all three crimes - knowing he wasn’t going to be charged in any of them.
“How’d they mess up? That’s crazy,” he cackled.
He continually professed his innocence.
“I didn’t rape anyone,” he said smugly."I don't rape," he said. “They got me on assault. That’s it. Period.”
Brockington has been in jail for nearly five years after pleading down to attempted assault in the 2003 Soundview case. He is expected to be released soon with time served and will avoid having to register as a sex offender.
Charges were also dropped against Howard, who was freed last February.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/suspected-rapist-mocks-bronx-da-office-article-1.1025485#ixzz1n3IZU35b
“It’s a joke,” Brian Brockington said in a phone interview from Rikers Island. “If they had my DNA, how come I’m only in here on assault?”
Brockington, 35, was arrested on rape charges in 2007 and his cousin Rodney Howard, 36, was arrested two years later after their DNA matched evidence from a 1993 gun-point attack on a 29-year-old woman.
But because of a police backlog, the DNA evidence from the crime wasn’t processed for nearly a decade — and prosecutors filed charges a day after the crime’s 10-year statute of limitations expired, said Steven Reed, spokesman for the Bronx DA.
The DA’s office realized their error only after the cousins were arrested — and prosecutors were forced to drop the rape charges.
Two other cases against Brockington were also dismissed — one involving the rape of a drunken woman at a Soundview party in 2003 and sex-abuse charges stemming from a 1997 attack on a Bronx woman — because of “evidentiary issues,”including uncooperative witnesses who refused to testify, Reed said.
“We couldn’t make a case without them,” Reed said of the victims.
Brockington poked fun of Bronx prosecutors when told his DNA linked him to all three crimes - knowing he wasn’t going to be charged in any of them.
“How’d they mess up? That’s crazy,” he cackled.
He continually professed his innocence.
“I didn’t rape anyone,” he said smugly."I don't rape," he said. “They got me on assault. That’s it. Period.”
Brockington has been in jail for nearly five years after pleading down to attempted assault in the 2003 Soundview case. He is expected to be released soon with time served and will avoid having to register as a sex offender.
Charges were also dropped against Howard, who was freed last February.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/suspected-rapist-mocks-bronx-da-office-article-1.1025485#ixzz1n3IZU35b
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