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Patrick Kane witness will appear before grand jury: Report

Patrick Kane witness will appear before grand jury: Report

The ongoing Patrick Kane rape investigation may reach a new phase next week, as a woman who was with his alleged victim on the night in question has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury, according to WGRZ’s Scott Levin.

From WGRZ:

A source who spoke with us about the investigation says Kane and the alleged victim were at Skybar in Buffalo on August 1 and went back to Kane's home in Hamburg. The source added the alleged incident occurred inside Kane's home and the alleged victim called police.

Former Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark says he does not expect any decisions to be made by the grand jury before the end of this month. In fact, he says this process could take weeks or even months to play out.

"Right now, it looks as though the decider as to whether or not Patrick Kane is guilty of any criminal conduct or not will be an Erie County grand jury," says Clark.

Again, this process is expected to take weeks. Also taking place in weeks: NHL training camps, where every single Chicago Blackhawks player will be asked about Patrick Kane as Patrick Kane is shielded from the public – if he’s at camp at all.

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As this investigation continues, we’re going to see pressure being applied to both the NHL and the Blackhawks regarding Kane. For Gary Bettman, it’s going to be a lot of chatter about Section 18-A.5 of the CBA, granting the League permission to suspend Kane right now if it wanted to:

18-A.5 Criminal Investigation. A Player subject to Commissioner Discipline for Off-Ice Conduct may seek a reasonable delay in such proceedings in order to retain and seek the advice of counsel in the event his conduct may also be subject to a criminal investigation by any governmental authority, or in the event of an ongoing civil proceeding where the Player has been named as a defendant. The League may suspend the Player pending the League's formal review and disposition of the matter where the failure to suspend the Player during this period would create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League.

The NHL acted when Slava Voynov was arrested, mainly because the NFL had taken the first step towards disciplining a player for domestic violence through the Ray Rice case. Ironically, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell getting his ass handed to him by a judge on the Tom Brady suspension may make other leagues trigger shy about using loosely-defined but sweeping suspension powers.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are getting more than a few think-pieces from local media about whether the only option now is to trade Kane. They haven’t asked the 26-year-old to waive his no-trade clause, according to ESPN.

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