Soldier Blames Twin for Crimes
SAVIDGE: This may sound like something out of a soap opera. I actually think it was the plot of a soap opera at one point. The man takes the blame for the actions of his evil twin. This scenario, though, is playing out in a real Colorado courtroom. A soldier claims that his identical twin brother is the one that's responsible for the sex crimes that he is now accused of. We get more from CNN's Miguel Marquez.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is brother versus brother, identical twins. Aaron Lucas, a decorated Army officer, is charged with trying to lure 11 girls between 6 and 9 years old into his vehicle and sexually assaulting three of them. All this, while on active duty at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs.</s>UNIDENTIFIED JUDGE: Do you have any questions, sir?</s>AARON LUCAS, CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ASSAULT: No, Your Honor.</s>MARQUEZ: DNA now linking him to alleged sex crimes in two other states. But Aaron Lucas said his identical brother Brian is to blame for some or all of the crimes. DNA was taken from Aaron Lucas when he was arrested last year. The sample posted to a national database linked him to unsolved sex crimes in Madison, Alabama, and Texarkana, Texas. There is, however, one possible exception. Identical twins have virtually identical DNA. Both brothers lived in Alabama and Texas. Brian says he's never been to Colorado Springs and law enforcement agencies in Alabama, Texas, and Colorado say Aaron Lucas remains the focus of their investigations. Defense attorneys say beyond the DNA evidence, one alleged victim described their assailants as driving a black Acura sedan, a car similar to that owned by Aaron's twin brother Brian. The defense also says another witness identified a different man altogether as her assailant. All evidence the judge says a jury can now hear. Still unclear whether Brian Lucas will be compelled to appear in a Colorado court in a case expected to start in January. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>SAVIDGE: Thanks, Miguel, for that breakdown. Let me bring back now clinical psychologist, Dr. Jeff Gardere; and criminal defense attorney, Holly Hughes. Holly, how will you prove who's really responsible here?</s>HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: You're going to look at evidence besides DNA. If there's any fingerprints> identical twins don't have identical fingerprints. If there's any fingerprints, they'll look at that. They'll also look at alibis. If the brother Brian can prove he was somewhere else, and the DNA matches, it's got to be the brother who's charged with the crime. They're leaking at alibis and additional, like we talked, about the car. We heard him talk about that. Miguel told us, somebody said it was a car like the brother's. OK, but was it the brother's? They'll look at all of that, all of that additional. And you ask, you know, do you think Brian will be called into court? I do. And do you know who is going to call him? The state is going to call him to say, did you do this, and he's going to say absolutely not, and here's why. He's going to list out every alibi he has. And in some of those attacks, he wasn't even in the state at the time they happened.</s>SAVIDGE: All right, Dr. Gardere, let me ask you this, is it common for this sort of "good twin, bad twin" scenario?</s>DR. GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Not usually, because what we're looking at, right, is the same DNA. When we look at studies done on identical twins, we try to match up the behavior. Even if they've been separated at birth, we find that they have -- they both share the same kinds of behavior. Though we have seen cases like this, and Holly can speak to it, where one twin has blamed another for whatever trouble they seem to get in. So, this is what muddies up this thing, and, of course, a third suspect. But, no, we usually see some of the same behaviors or at least the outline of some of the same behaviors.</s>SAVIDGE: Yeah, well, we used to, you know, obviously talk about this as twins with kids because they think they could get away and blame the other, but we're talking about something far more serious. Has there ever been this kind of evil twin defense?</s>HUGHES: There has been, several times in a courtroom. And it doesn't work. And it doesn't work because of those other factors. Sometimes there's a tattoo that one twin has that the other doesn't. A lot of times, if there's a sexual assault case, you'll see bite-mark impression. Teeth aren't going to be the same. Over the years one twin gets a cavity, a filling, the other one doesn't. So there's always a way to sort of distinguish them. So it has been tried. It has not been successful in any of the cases it's been used in thus far.</s>SAVIDGE: Well, let me ask you, this Dr. Gardere, and this is -- obviously we're just saying sort of what if. These are terrible accusations that have been made for luring very young girls. So, say, it wasn't him and eventually it's proved that it was somebody else, maybe the twin. What is the impact likely to be on that person who's been accused of this?</s>GARDERE: Even if he's found not guilty of this, the fact that he's been accused of being a pedophile, raping three of these -- of youngsters, is something that he's going to have to live with forever. And people are still going to have doubts, and they'll ask, well, why is it that he was raised perhaps in the same household with this evil twin, does he have some of this same behaviors because of the genetics that he hasn't acted out, but is he someone that can be trustworthy. So this thing does get very complicated. By the way, they're coming up with new DNA tests because we find that DNA does change over time because of the impact of the environment. So, they're not going to have this kind of an issue in the future. But still, we're waiting on that test to come to fruition.</s>SAVIDGE: Fascinating. Actually, two fascinating cases. Dr. Jeff Gardere, Holly Hughes, attorney, thank you both for joining us. We thank you very much.</s>GARDERE: Pleasure.</s>HUGHES: Thanks, Martin.</s>GARDERE: You, too.</s>SAVIDGE: For some of this week's remembrances for John F. Kennedy, it's put into sharp focus how far back Obama's approval rating has fallen since those early sky high numbers. Years from now, how might President Obama be remembered? Well, I'll ask a presidential historian that very question next.