NEW YORK — FBI agents may have violated the rights of accused subway shooter Frank James by taking multiple DNA samples from him this week without first contacting his lawyers, the lawyers complain in a court filing.
Attorneys for James, held without bail since his April 13 arrest for the stunning explosion of gunfire on a morning rush hour train where 10 people were shot, argue in Brooklyn Federal Court that standard practice required them to be notified beforehand.
“By depriving counsel of the ability to be present to witness the procedure, as occurs routinely, they lessened Mr. James’ ability to later challenge the validity of of the physical taking of the sample,” the attorneys wrote.
