NIAGARA COUNTY COURT
Brokob’s DNA test ruled admissible
LOCKPORT — Prosecutors will be able to use a DNA test given by child molestation suspect Mitchell W. Brokob at his Dec. 8 trial, along with comments he made that day and objects seized from his North Tonawanda home in a later search.
In a ruling disclosed at a brief court appearance for Brokob on Thursday, Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III said most of the material the defense sought to suppress will be allowed at the trial.
The sole exception, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth R. Donatello said, was a comment Brokob, 41, made to a Niagara County corrections officer while being driven to a North Tonawanda City Court date June 9.
Prosecutors are conducting more DNA tests on confiscated items.
Assistant Public Defender Christopher A. Privateer said those are articles of Brokob’s clothing, seized from his home.
Prosecutors wouldn’t say what the items were, but Deputy District Attorney Holly E. Sloma said in court, “If there’s some indication there’s a match, they would be quite critical.”
Brokob is accused of abducting a 12-year-old girl at knifepoint as she walked past his Gilmore Avenue home to school, forcing her into a nearby vacant house and sexually abusing her. He faces a maximum of life in prison if he is convicted of predatory sexual assault, the most serious of the six counts against him in connection with a March 20 incident.
Since her attacker wore a mask, the victim was unable to identify him. Police went door-to-door in the neighborhood April 19, asking for DNA samples from men, and among them was Brokob, whose sample matched one taken from the crime scene. However, he was not arrested until June 6.
A subsequent search warrant at Brokob’s home resulted in evidence including a video camera installed on his front porch, which was pointed at a playground across the street, according to testimony at the evidence-suppression hearing last month.
Two computers also were seized, and their results led to federal child pornography charges being lodged against Brokob on Nov. 6. If convicted on those counts, he could be sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison.
