Subway Shooting Suspect Frank James Claims FBI Wrongly Swabbed His DNA

NEW YORK CITY — A DNA sample from Brooklyn subway shooting suspect Frank James could be tossed after his attorneys complained authorities took it without their knowledge.

James' federal public defenders wrote a judge Thursday that FBI agents entered James' cell this week, questioned him, took DNA swabs and told him to sign certain documents.

FBI agents did so without telling James' lawyers, they claimed.

"Here, because the government failed to provide notice to counsel before questioning and searching Mr. James, their practice risked violations of Mr. James’s core constitutional rights under the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments," the letter states.

James, 62, remains in federal lockup in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on terror-related charges.

Authorities accuse him of being the gas-masked gunman who detonated two smoke grenades before firing at least 33 gunshots on an N train the morning of April 12.

A days-long manhunt ensued for the shooter, which ended when NYPD officers picked up James.

Investigators are continuing their probe into the mass shooting while James is held without bail until a terrorism trial. They apparently already took a sample James' DNA about when he was booked, according to the defense attorneys' letter Thursday.

"Any search warrant issued here may have been unreasonable, where the same agents had already taken Mr. James’s DNA on April 13, 2022," the letter states. "And by depriving counsel of the ability to be present to witness the procedure, as occurs routinely, they lessened Mr. James’s ability to later challenge the validity of the physical taking of the sample."

The letter states the attorneys could file a suppression motion — a step that could bar any evidence obtained from being used in trial. They also ask for the affidavit that the search warrant was based upon, any documents signed by James and a recounting of what he said during the DNA swab and meeting Tuesday.