LAWRENCE, Kan. (WAND) — Terrence Shannon Jr.'s lawyers have filed a motion for a special hearing to exclude expert testimony in his criminal rape case in Kansas.
A Daubert hearing asks the court to consider the testimony of an expert witness, in this case the defense's testimony and reports revolving around the DNA results from the woman who accused him of rape back in December.
The alleged incident occurred when Shannon traveled to Lawrence for the Illinois vs Kansas football game as a spectator on September 8, 2023. He was temporarily suspended from the team during the initial investigation.
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In the filing, his legal team lays out the facts of the DNA testing that was done during a SANE examination performed on the alleged victim.
After testing was done, police collected a mouth swab from Shannon for DNA comparison. A Kansas Bureau of Investigation report found that swabs of the victim's body "revealed no male DNA." Swabs taken from her undergarments showed an "insufficient amount of male DNA."
The lawyers point out that there was also no DNA match to Shannon on the samples tested. Mark P. Sutter of the Sutter Law Group gave WAND News this statement about the expert Shannon's team hired to look over DNA evidence.
"Ms. Stephanie Beine is a senior forensic scientist and a renowned expert in her field. Our legal team filed this Motion based on her review of the raw data and her scientific conclusions relative to the DNA evidence in this case."
If the request is granted, a Daubert hearing would take place prior to Shannon's trial on May 10.
WAND News reached out to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for comment, but a representative declined.
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