That newspaper's reporting largely mirrors what sources close to the investigation have told ABC News. When pressed, however, those sources would not say there was a perfect match between the third player and the sample tested.
Defense sources said the results from an initial round of DNA testing had failed to produce any DNA evidence. They point out, to this day, that no DNA evidence matching the lacrosse players has been found on the alleged victim. They insist that results from this set of DNA tests are also inconclusive and that there is no match, and that to say otherwise is "very misleading."
They also say it would not be unusual to find players' DNA in the bathroom or garbage can of a house where some of them lived and many others spent time.
The defense will almost certainly argue that these new DNA results should not be permitted in court, because they are not a perfect match. In cases where DNA evidence is not a perfect match it is sometimes considered inadmissible as evidence.
The case -- tinged with class, race and social issues -- has riveted the city of Durham and drawn national media attention since the allegations first surfaced nearly two months ago. The accuser, a mother and a student at nearby North Carolina Central University who was working that night as an exotic dancer, is black, and the accused players are white.
The potential new DNA evidence in the case comes as Duke University seniors prepare for graduation on Sunday.
