Brown's chicken allowed as evidence

A partially eaten chicken dinner -- the evidence that finally led to charges in the 1993 Brown's Chicken massacre -- will be presented to jurors in the upcoming trial of one of two men accused in the slayings, a judge ruled Friday.

Attorneys for Juan Luna argued vehemently Friday that evidence connected to the meal was lost, mishandled and thrown away. But Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan, in a terse ruling, indicated he found no evidence of blatant negligence or intentional rule violations in the handling of the chicken evidence.

The ruling is key because prosecutors say Luna's DNA was found on the chicken dinner found inside a garbage can during the investigation into the Jan. 8, 1993, slayings of seven people inside the Palatine eatery.

"It's almost mind-boggling," said attorney Allan Sincox, describing the way the chicken evidence was handled in the days after the slayings.

Sincox also noted that one scientist who examined the chicken bones in the mid-1990s threw out one bone after he was unable to extract any DNA from it. Another scientist handled the bones without wearing gloves, Sincox said.

And some chicken bone evidence got lost on its way from a State Police crime lab to the Palatine Police Department, Sincox noted.

But Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Alan Spellberg argued that defense experts, before they knew the evidence had been lost, said they had no interest in testing it for DNA.

Prosecutors also said investigators weren't deliberately mishandling evidence but had no idea science would someday allow DNA extraction from saliva on a chicken bone.