St. Guillen Suspect's Lawyer Says Client Tried by Media

March 13, 2006 — -- New York City's police commissioner announced Sunday that DNA evidence linked the prime suspect in the Imette St. Guillen case to her brutal rape and murder. Police found blood that matched bouncer Darryl Littlejohn's on the plastic ties used to restrain the 24-year-old graduate student.

Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that the DNA match was "one in a trillion." He said authorities would seek a grand jury indictment against Littlejohn, 41, for the slaying.

St. Guillen's body was found in a remote section of Brooklyn on Feb. 25. She was last seen at 4 a.m. that day at The Falls Bar in Soho, where Littlejohn was a bouncer.

Littlejohn's attorney, Kevin O'Donnell, said that his client was being treated unfairly by the authorities, pointing to leaks to the media and to the fact that Kelly released the DNA results publicly without sharing it with the suspect's attorney.

"The fact that they played this case in the media, which puts my client behind the eight ball right away," O'Donnell said.

Police have long believed that the killing occurred at Littlejohn's home and that St. Guillen's body was dumped in Brooklyn shortly after her death. Police say they have cell phone records linking the suspect to that location. They also found carpet fibers on her body that match those from Littlejohn's rug. In addition, police have recovered DNA evidence that links Littlejohn to at least one prior sexual assault. In those cases, the women were bound and washed or swabbed clean by the assailant.

"His past is his past. You can't escape that," O'Donnell said about his client's criminal record, which includes drug and gun convictions.

The evidence against Littlejohn seems staggering, but there are factors that seem to suggest that Littlejohn is not the killer. Law enforcement sources say not all of the DNA evidence is a match. Semen on the blanket used to wrap St. Guillen does not match Littlejohn's, and samples from the victim's fingernails are also not a match.