Accused rapist allowed to raise identical twin defense at trial

An Army officer linked by DNA to the sexual assault of several young girls will be allowed to argue that his identical twin brother could have committed the crimes.

1st Lt. Aaron Lucas, a decorated artillery officer, is charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, enticement of a child and indecent exposure.

Lucas has an identical twin brother, Brian Frederick Lucas, who also owns a black Acura sedan like one described by a victim in Alabama, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Brian Lucas lives in Alabama, the Huntsville Times reported.

It would be "inappropriate" for Lucas' attorneys to be barred from presenting his identical twin as an alternate suspect, Fourth Judicial District Judge David Shakes ruled Friday.

DNA linked Aaron Lucas -- and, it seems, his brother -- to the Alabama case, as well as to the abduction of an 8-year-old girl in Colorado Springs and also to another attack on a young girl in Texarkana, Tex., in 2009, the Gazette reported. Brian Lucas denied involvement in the crimes under interrogation by the Madison County, Ala., sheriff's office, investigators testified Friday.

DNA evidence might usually be all-but-absolute proof in most cases, but the presence of a twin can throw investigators for a loop.

In a case in England, authorities charged both brothers with rape when DNA evidence linked at least one of them to the crime. Two 24-year-old twin brothers in Marseilles have also been charged with a series of rapes after DNA rendered the evidence largely indistinguishable between the two.