A judge Thursday refused to quash a search warrant resulting in collection of DNA evidence from a former Hilldale band director and his office chair.

Danny Brian Giacomo, 37, is accused of raping and sodomizing two Hilldale students when they were 14 and 15.

“We’re saying the search warrant is insufficient and want a ruling,” defense attorney Richard O’Carroll said after lengthy argument.

“OK, I’ll make a ruling the search warrant is sufficient,” said District Judge Tom Alford.

Alford said if O’Carroll could present sufficient legal grounds for him to reconsider, he would listen to it.

The DNA evidence is under a protective order, so it cannot be entered into a national DNA data base or revealed before trial.

Alford also joined the two felony cases into one case that is to go to trial March 3 in Muskogee County District Court. At that time, Giacomo will face trial on eight sex-related felonies and one misdemeanor.

A prosecution motion to close the trial to the public was denied Thursday by Alford. Assistant District Attorney Nikki Baker Dotson argued the two female witnesses were still in school and would be testifying about sex matters relating to a former teacher. She said they could be embarrassed and emotionally damaged by doing so in public.

O’Carroll argued against closing the trial, saying one of the girls already had testified in a similar case against Giacomo in Custer County. Giacomo is charged in Custer County with five counts of second-degree rape and one count of forcible sodomy. A trial date has not been set in that case.

In her argument, Dotson said one of the witnesses has been so emotionally damaged she had to spend about 45 days at a mental health facility and has been unable to attend school. O’Carroll then demanded the mental health records of the witness.

He also asked for Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation records, including data taken off hard drives and placed on CD-ROM and labeled so it couldn’t be given to anyone but the prosecution.

Alford ruled O’Carroll can inspect any technical evidence before trial.

Giacomo resigned his position at Hilldale on Nov. 24, 2006, the day before the first charges were filed involving a 15-year-old. Charges involving the 14-year-old were filed in January 2007.

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