BOSTON, July 25, 2014—An appellate court today found that the twin brother of a man charged with killing 67-year-old Barbara Coyne must comply with a judge’s order to provide a DNA sample that could help prove that only one of the two could have left behind DNA found at the murder scene, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
In a decision authored by Justice Mark V. Green, the Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed a Suffolk Superior Court judge’s finding that the twin brother of TIMOTHY KOSTKA (D.O.B.4/28/85) was in contempt of an order to produce a DNA sample. He had been ordered to provide a DNA sample that would be used to prove conclusively whether Kostka and his brother are fraternal twins – each of whom has a unique DNA profile – or identical twins with matching DNA.
Timothy Kostka is currently charged with first-degree murder and home invasion for allegedly breaking into Coyne’s East 7th Street home and beating and stabbing the elder to death on April 16, 2012. Among the evidence collected by Boston Police homicide detectives was DNA found under Coyne’s fingernails that bore a genetic profile consistent with the defendant’s, prosecutors said.
In February 2013, prosecutors sought a court order that would compel Kostka’s twin brother to provide a DNA sample in order to prove that the two are fraternal twins and that the DNA found under Coyne’s nails could only belong to Timothy Kostka. The order was granted by a Superior Court judge the following month. Kostka’s brother has previously testified that the two are fraternal twins, but prosecutors hope to prove that assertion through scientific means in order to show that each brother’s DNA is, in fact, unique.
Despite the judge’s order, the brother has failed to submit to a minimally intrusive mouth swab to provide a DNA sample to be compared to that of his brother.
Prosecutors argued, and the appellate justices agreed, that the DNA test is the only way to prove whether the brothers are fraternal twins, and that the results of the test provide evidence that will be important in establishing the killer’s identity.
“[T]hat determination that Timothy’s DNA is unique as a contributing source of the DNA recovered from the crime scene is relevant to the question of Timothy’s guilt,” Green wrote.
“Finally, the judge considered the influence of the additional factors of ‘the seriousness of the crime, the importance of the evidence, and the unavailability of less intrusive means of obtaining [the evidence],’” Green continued, citing a prior case laying out the elements prosecutors must prove in order to obtain an order for a DNA sample from an individual not suspected of a crime.
Assistant District Attorney Teresa Anderson of the DA’s Appellate Division argued the case before the Appeals Court. Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight is prosecuting the case against Timothy Kostka. The defendant’s brother was represented by attorney John Cunha.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
