Judge Tosses Rape Case Against Strauss-Kahn
A New York judge has dismissed rape charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn after prosecutors said they could not prove the case against the former chief of the International Monetary Fund.
Judge Michael Obus of Manhattan stayed his dismissal order, however, to allow a lawyer for Strauss-Kahn’s accuser to appeal a motion seeking to disqualify the District Attorney’s office, the New York Times reports. The lawyer for Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel maid who accused Strauss-Kahn, is seeking a special prosecutor. Obus denied the motion today, before the hearing on dismissal of the charges.
Obus dismissed all seven charges against Strauss-Kahn, including four felonies, in a hearing that lasted about 13 minutes, the Los Angeles Times reports. Prosecutors asked to dismiss the charges after discovering Diallo had lied on her asylum application and to investigators when she said soldiers had gang-raped her in her home country of Guinea, the New York Daily News reports at its Daily Politics blog.
According to the New York Times, the dismissal “brought some semblance of vindication” to Strauss-Kahn. For Diallo, it “caps a precipitous fall.” Her civil suit against Strauss-Kahn is pending.
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Gov’t Asks Court to Drop All Charges in Alleged Ex-IMF Chief Sex Assault of Hotel Housekeeper”
