LESS PRECISE DNA TEST OKd (Judge allows use in rape case)

A Nassau judge will allow the district attorney's office to try a rape case using the same DNA technology that has helped identify the remains of unknown soldiers.  A victory for prosecutors.  The ruling earlier this week marks the first time on Long Island, and only the second time in the state, that the genetic material known as mitochondrial DNA, also referred to as mtDNA, will be permitted as evidence in a criminal trial.  The decision stemmed from a June hearing in which the prosecution asked the judge to permit the use of mtDNA, which is more plentiful but not as distinctive as conventional DNA, to help identify Raymond Klinger as the man who allegedly raped a woman he met at a West Hempstead nightclub on February 14, 1999.  The 40 year old Rockville Centre man pleaded not guilty to charged he kidnapped, beat and raped a 54 year old woman.  He has been held on $300,000 bail at the county jail in East Meadow for more than a year.  

(New York)