Nov. 19, 2001 — Preliminary results of DNA tests conducted at the FBI laboratory indicate that a second man was present at the scene where investigators say Ian Tracy killed his girlfriend, Adassa Rolle, late last year.
That evidence, if true, would corroborate the version of events that Tracy told homicide detectives on the night of the killing last December. Tracy, a former class president at Antilles School who now attends Middlebury College, has said all along that he was with Rolle in a vehicle parked at Green Cay Plantation when a gunman approached them.
Tracy has said that the man's gun went off as Tracy struggled with him. Rolle died of a gunshot wound to the head.
When Tracy was arrested and charged with first-degree murder several days after the killing, investigators said that his version of the events did not mesh with forensic evidence. But they produced no witnesses and no recovered weapon that could be linked to the defendant.
Defense attorney Treston Moore filed a court motion last week demanding that forensic evidence be turned over to him. Territorial Court Judge Ishmael Meyers ordered prosecutors to turn over all evidence as far back as Feb. 28, but Moore said he has still not received it.
The evidence for DNA testing was not sent to the FBI until October, and results may not be ready by the Dec. 10 trial date. Meyers has indicated that prosecutors must present a compelling reason for him to postpone the trial.
Moore said the long delay has hurt his client's ability to mount a defense.
"The defendant should not have to abandon his speedy trial rights due to the government's inexcusable behavior," Moore wrote. "This case can and should have been prepared for trial long ago. The greatest impact on the defendant has been the inability to obtain critical exculpatory evidence until the last moment, to wit: the government's Nov. 2, 2001, revelation that a male other than Mr. Tracy was present at the crime scene."
Evidence sent to the FBI labs includes blood samples taken from the road at the scene, towels and clothes from the vehicle, a camouflage hat found about 300 feet away, medical samples, a 9 mm shell casing found inside the vehicle and part of a large-caliber bullet that was recovered from the vehicle, according to court files.
Moore also wrote that he has interviewed several witnesses who may have information about the murder and turned their names over to the prosecution. Investigators have still not interviewed any of those people, Moore wrote.
