DA's office files reply in Yakovleff case

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office released a reply on August 3 in opposition to a motion to dismiss the indictment of Steven Odegard for the January 2008 murder of South End hair stylist Daniel Yakovleff.

Yakovleff had been found stabbed to death in the defendant's apartment early on the morning of January 17. Odegard was subsequently charged with the victim's murder.

Attorney John Swomley filed a motion to dismiss Odegard's indictment, claiming that the DA's office misrepresented DNA results and other evidence.

District Attorney Daniel Conley said in August 3 response that the "defendant's motion [to dismiss the indictment against him] should be denied since he has failed to establish any of the...elements necessary to justify a dismissal of the indictment."

"Our belief is that the legal foundation for the case is quite strong, but more than that, the evidence is quite strong as well," District Attorney spokesperson Jake Wark said on August 5. "There is some evidence in the defense attorney's motion to dismiss that suggests that there's a third party unknown DNA, which is simply not true."

Wark went on to say that every DNA sample recovered at the scene of the crime can be linked to the defendant, the victim, or a man that the victim had been intimate with prior to his death.

The trial is expected to begin on December 14.