DNA on duct tape helps cops nab home invader

The piece of evidence that finally tied Jamel McFarlane to a 2-year-old home invasion was DNA he left on duct tape used to bind victims, Nassau prosecutors said yesterday.

Ever since the September 2006 robbery, police had been looking for the last of three men they said broke into an Inwood home and shot a 9-year-old boy in the eye.

But even after one man was convicted in the case and another pleaded guilty, police did not make an arrest - until November.

"Really good police work helped make the case against this guy," said prosecutor Michael Walsh.

Yesterday, McFarlane, 25, of Brooklyn, was in court for a hearing to determine whether what he said to police after he was arrested should be admitted at trial. McFarlane denied to police that he took part in the crime, but he did acknowledge owning the car seen leaving the scene, Walsh said.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Alan Honorof ruled that the statement should be admitted. McFarlane's trial on robbery, burglary and assault charges is set for April 21. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.

McFarlane's lawyer, Dana Grossblatt of Uniondale, declined to comment on the case.

Police caught the first two suspects in the case, Tyreek Williams, 22, of Brooklyn, and Rasheed Watson, 22, of Paterson, N.J., relatively quickly. Williams pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 years in prison in August 2007, while Watson, the man police said shot John Henry Romano in the eye, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

But not until last November, when New York City police picked McFarlane up on an unrelated charge, did they begin to find the third man, Walsh said. McFarlane drove the same car that had been seen leaving the scene of the crime - a light gray Ford Taurus, Walsh said. When police searched it, they found two guns, handcuffs and gloves hidden in a secret compartment where the passenger side air bag should have been, Walsh said. One of the guns was the one that had been used to shoot Romano, Walsh said.

The clincher came when the police found a drop of blood in the car. The DNA from that blood, which they believe McFarlane spilled after jumping through a window to escape when the homeowner returned fire, matched DNA found on the duct tape, Walsh said.

By ANN GIVENS
Posted Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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