Breeze blamed: Gang rape defendant claims wind carried DNA from beer can to condom
 

The attorney for man charged in the 2009 gang rape of a 16-year-old girl is claiming that wind could have transferred the defendant's DNA from a beer can to a used condom found at the crime scene.
Marcelles Peter, 20, went on trial Monday for his alleged participation in the Oct. 24, 2009, attack on the girl outside her homecoming dance in Richmond, Calif. -- a brutal crime that stunned the nation. Peter is among a group of six men and teenagers charged with assaulting the girl, whom police say was raped repeatedly and severely beaten for more than two hours in a school courtyard, while as many as 20 other people watched.
The victim, 5-foot, 2 inches tall and weighing 100 pounds, was lured to a dark courtyard outside Richmond High School, where police say she drank a large amount of brandy. After she refused sex with her attackers, authorities say she was raped, robbed and beaten unconscious in a sustained sexual assault that some investigators called the worst they had ever seen. Though as many as two dozen people stood and watched, the attack ended when a woman in the neighborhood heard what was happening and called 911.
The girl, who some bystanders thought was dead, was found unresponsive under a picnic table and air-lifted to a hospital in critical condition. The victim recovered and is expected to testify at the trial.
Gordon Brown, Peter's attorney, told jurors Monday that wind from the helicopter could have compromised evidence at the scene and carried Peter's DNA from a beer can to a broken used condom found in the courtyard, according to the Contra Costa Times. Brown was not immediately available for comment when contacted Tuesday by FoxNews.com.


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