New DNA evidence found on the blanket that links Darryl Littlejohn to the co-ed he is accused of murdering has delayed the start of his trial for two weeks.
Jury selection was supposed to start today as Littlejohn, a Manhattan bouncer, faces a murder rap for the slaying of Imette St. Guillen, a John Jay College student who was found slain after a night of downtown carousing, her body wrapped in a blanket near the side of the road in Brooklyn.
Sources close to the case say there is evidence linking Littlejohn's brother, himself an accused murderer, to the blanket -- a key piece of forensic evidence the Brooklyn DA will use to try to link Littlejohn to the crime. Jury selection will start again on May 4.
The Daily News reported today that prosecutors found semen belonging to Littlejohn's brother, Reggie Harris, on the blanket, but a spokesman for the Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes would not confirm the source of the DNA.
Harris had a criminal background of his own. He was charged in connection with two murders but died of asthma attack before he could face trial, according to court records cited by the News.
Littlejohn was imprisoned at the time Harris allegedly killed his victims, and Harris was already dead in 2006 when Littlejohn allegedly killed St. Guillen, so it seems clear neither helped the other.
But investigators are trying to figure out how significant -- if at all -- the discovery of Harris' DNA is to Littlejohn's case.
Also complicating things is the claim made by Littlejohn's lawyer that the manufacturer of the blanket found wrapped around St. Guillen said it didn't make that particular model until 1998, four years after Harris' death.
