Paternity at issue in Rhodes murder trial

Evidence presented today in the Christopher Rhodes murder trial in Orange County Court in Goshen proved that Christopher is not the biological father of little Jerica Rhodes, who was killed last January at her elementary school in Highland Falls.

The paternity test analyzed at the New York State Forensic Center last May showed that certain biological matter which is present in DNA from related individuals is different in the case of Jerica and Christopher Rhodes.

Defense attorney Sol Lesser strongly objected to this information being available to the jury claiming it is not relevant to this case. He stated that it is just another prejudice against his client.

Prosecutor John Geidel said that it is pertinent to the case because it shows a possible motive for the defendant. He said that he can’t be certain that Rhodes didn’t know about this fact before his daughter’s death, and that he doesn’t know whether or not Rhodes will take the stand later in the trial.

Geidel said that he could not take the chance of waiting for Lesser to decide whether or not to call his client to the stand; in which case Geidel would ask him if he knew about Jerica not being his daughter.

The judge agreed to allow the paternity test to be added to the list of evidence, and agreed with prosecutors that it is significant to their case against Rhodes.