Charges to be dropped
Woman’s credibility at issue in assault case against ex-IMF chief
NEW YORK – Prosecutors sought on Monday to dismiss the criminal charges in a sexual-assault case against former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn, saying persistent lying by the hotel maid who accused him of trying to rape her in his posh suite made it impossible for them to determine what really happened.
In a 25-page court document, Manhattan prosecutors described the lies and inconsistencies they said had shattered the housekeeper’s credibility, delved into DNA evidence they said showed sexual contact but not necessarily a forced encounter and discussed why they saw medical findings as inconclusive.
They said they “simply no longer have confidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty.”
With that, the district attorney’s office asked a judge to put an end to a case that created a cross-continental sensation. A formal dismissal is expected at Strauss-Kahn’s court date today, though the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, is asking the judge to boot the DA’s office off the case and put it on hold until a special prosecutor can be appointed.
Still, if the criminal case is dismissed, efforts to shed light on what transpired in Strauss-Kahn’s suite at the Sofitel hotel are bound to continue in another court: the Bronx civil court handling Diallo’s lawsuit against him.
Echoing and expanding on concerns prosecutors had raised previously, they said in court papers Diallo repeatedly lied to investigators and grand jurors about her life, her past and her actions following her encounter with the French diplomat.
She gave three versions of what she did right after when she says she was attacked and established a troubling ability to present “fiction as fact with complete conviction” by telling a phony tale of a previous rape, prosecutors wrote. She also was evasive about nearly $60,000 that other people had moved through her bank account and insisted she had no interest in getting money from Strauss-Kahn – once telling prosecutors no one could “buy” her – only to sue him within three months, they said.
“In virtually every substantive interview with prosecutors, despite entreaties to simply be truthful, she has not been truthful on matters great and small,” they wrote. “… Our grave concerns about (Diallo’s) reliability make it impossible to resolve the question of what exactly happened.”
Prosecutors met briefly Monday with Diallo and her attorney, Kenneth Thompson, who emerged blasting them for their decision.
District Attorney Cyrus Vance “has not only turned his back on this innocent victim, but he has also turned his back on the forensic, medical and other physical evidence in this case,” Thompson said.
Strauss-Kahn lawyers William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman, meanwhile, said he and his family were grateful for prosecutors’ decision.
“We have maintained from the beginning of this case that our client is innocent,” they said in a statement. “We also maintained that there were many reasons to believe that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s accuser was not credible.”