National media outlets jumped on the story, and immediately called for Kane to be suspended indefinitely
Now? Crickets.
In yet another bombshell, in a case with no shortage of jarring moments, Thomas Eoannou, the lawyer for a woman alleging that Chicago hockey star Patrick Kane raped her on August 2, has resigned from the case. The attorney, who held a shocking press conference Wednesday, brandishing what he called his client’s ripped hospital rape kit and saying it had been removed from police custody before being placed on the door of the accuser’s mother, now says he must step down because he “no longer [has] the confidence in the manner and means in which that bag came to my office.” An utterly exhausted-looking Eoannou said, “I looked into it, and I decided to withdraw.”
He did imply strongly that his problem was with his ex-client’s mother, and when asked if he now doubted the rape allegations against Kane, said, “One has nothing to do with the other. One has something to do with someone other than my client.”
Exhaustion aside, this was a remarkably cavalier statement. Of course his withdrawal damages his former client, perhaps irrevocably. Of course it will cast public doubt on all of her claims, in a society already disinclined to believe women who come forward.
Immediately Kane’s lawyer Paul Cambria jumped on the news, saying that Eoannou’s withdrawal “shows that the entire case is a fabrication” and “there’s nothing you can trust” about the accuser. The previous day, Cambria seized leaked, unverified information about the accuser’s “below the waist” DNA test, trumpeting that she had “a mixture” of sexual partners, none of them Kane. (How an officer of the court can broadcast leaks and not be subject to censure is beyond me.) Cambria did not trumpet that leaks also show Kane’s DNA underneath the accuser’s fingernails as well as on her back, or that she showed up to the hospital with scratches and bite marks on her body.
(In a Friday press conference, the DA Frank Sedita was crystal clear that the investigation into evidence-tampering is continuing and the rape investigation is also ongoing. He would not comment on the case but did say that with regards to seeing a grand jury, it’s a question of if, not when.)
In addition to Paul Cambria’s repellent pantomime, there is the Patrick Kane social media brigade, treating a rape case like it’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. They took Eoannou’s resignation as an opportunity to crow in about how this case, no matter its result, is a tragic turn of events. It’s a tragedy because anytime a rape trial is turned into a circus it only benefits those who want to keep women silent in the face of sexual violence. It’s a tragedy because there are now masses of Patrick Kane fanboys getting “lulz” over a rape case, wallowing in their misogyny publicly and proudly, like a grinning baby in a full diaper. It’s a tragedy because such behavior has a ripple effect that they either are oblivious to or could just care less about. Reporter
Julie DiCaro, who has been covering this case extensively, was threatened with what she described as very specific violence that mentioned places where she frequents. She could not go into work on Friday for fear of her personal safety and the safety of her coworkers.
These shameless online armies are not the only thing that’s rank here. We will undoubtedly learn more in the days and weeks to come about what happened in Patrick Kane’s Hamburg mansion on August 2. This story is not over and if there is one thing we can be assured of, given the last six weeks, there will be more ugliness to come.
Lawyer for Patrick Kane’s Accuser Quits After Saying Rape Kit Was Compromised