For District Attorney, Political Fallout May Follow Decision on Strauss-Kahn

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

With Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, seemingly poised to announce on Tuesday whether he will seek dismissal of the charges in the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, it is clear that his decision has the potential to carry political ramifications.

Letitia James, a Brooklyn councilwoman, plans to hold a rally on Monday afternoon in front of the courthouse in Manhattan urging Mr. Vance to proceed with the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund.

And Kenneth P. Thompson, the lawyer for the hotel housekeeper who accused Mr. Strauss-Kahn of assaulting her in Manhattan in May, plans to hold a news conference outside the courthouse after Mr. Vance announces his decision. Mr. Thompson’s law partner is expected to hold a parallel news conference in Paris.

Hints of the possible political fallout from the case have been apparent ever since Mr. Vance revealed in June that his office had serious questions about the credibility of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s accuser.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/nyregion/for-vance-strauss-kahn-case-may-cause-political-fallout.html

[cosmicone]

1. Now some stupid councilcritter is interfering ...

This was a hatchet job from the beginning with no evidence. The maid's lawyers already made an offer that if they got a good settlement, they would withdraw the criminal complaint.

That maid should be arrested for making false statements to the police and then summarily deported.

[xchrom]

5. indeed. nt

[naaman fletcher]

2. It's too bad..

Vance did what few prosecutors ever do: He owned up to the mistake. Most double down and push until the accused gives in. This make me like Vance better.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. He didn't really have a choice

Withholding that information from the defense would have made for an open-and-shut malicious prosecution lawsuit by DSK.

[grahamhgreen]

3. Time to investigate Letitia James.

[Brooklyns_Finest]

4. Amazing

With all the problems that the African American community in NYC is going through, council woman James decides to allocate her time to this cause?

No wonder we have a do-nothing congress; look at the pool of people they get to recruit from.

[stockholmer]

6. contact for Letitia James [e-mail]

She is an sideshow burning credibilty with these foolish actions.

[bemildred]

7. I'd say the DA can count on that (political consequences).

Does anyone else remember Cyrus Vance Sr?

[cosmicone]

9. Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter ... n/t

[bemildred]

10. There ya go.

:applause:

[Prometheus Bound]

11. Save your career junior. Let the rich guy go. That's the way it works.

[cosmicone]

20. Rich has nothing to do with it.

The charges were fake and with questionable motive by a lying scumbag of a maid.

[Prometheus Bound]

21. Rich is part of it. Powerful is the other part of it.

I haven't seen any evidence she lied.

[cosmicone]

23. Which planet were you visiting?

She lied about the timeline.

She lied about conspiring with her jailbird bf to extort money.

She lied about being on welfare and medicaid while she was also working.

She lied about being raped in her home country to gain asylum.

There are dozens of lies out there.

[alp227]

12. Prosecutor to drop Strauss-Kahn case: report

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Prosecutors will ask a judge to dismiss all charges in the sexual assault case against former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at a court hearing on Tuesday, the New York Post reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

The Manhattan district attorney's office will file a motion recommending the case be dropped and laying out the chronology of events that led to that point, according to the Post.

Strauss-Kahn, who has denied the allegations, was once seen as a leading contender to be president of France until a maid, Nafissatou Diallo, accused him of sexual assault on May 14 at New York's Sofitel Hotel. He was arrested and forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund a few days later.

The case has teetered since late June when prosecutors disclosed that Diallo, a 32-year-old Guinean immigrant, had lied on her U.S. asylum application and about other aspects of her past.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/21/us-strausskahn-idUSTRE77J20620110821

[aquart]

13. Now that we are absolutely certain his career is over.

Very tidily done.

[hlthe2b]

14. Well, all the media leaks on both sides...

have effectively left most people unsure WTF to think about this whole sordid ordeal. So, mission accomplished, I guess, though I don't think "Justice" was necessarily the beneficiary. Who knows....:shrug:

[ixion]

15. Can you say whitewash?

I knew you could. Whether he did or did not, there's far more to this story than is being told.

[Hissyspit]

16. WNBC: Manhattan DA's Office Will Likely Dismiss All Charges in Strauss-Kahn Case on Tuesday

Source: NBC News

@Savannah Guthrie RT @CNBCbrk: WNBC: The Manhattan District Attorney's office will likely dismiss all charges in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case on Tuesday.
UberSocial for BlackBerry • 8/21/11 4:34 PM

No link yet.

[xchrom]

17. Recommend

[David Sky]

18. But of course! He's rich, and therefore totally innocent of

all charges!!!!!! Democrats should know that!

:sarcasm:

[saras]

19. He is, as far as the prosecutors can determine, innocent of what he's charged with.

If you just don't like him, for personal reasons, that's another matter.

Or if you think he should be charged with other crimes, against other people, perhaps with reliable witnessess and physical evidence, then running the IMF is as good a crime as any. But he was a reformer and, for the IMF, a progressive, and almost certainly better than his successor.

But the accuser was making all rape victims look bad to the point where I was beginning to wonder if she was getting paid by the right-wing pro-rapists as well as the anti-Strauss folks.

[David Sky]

22. Please don't lecture fellow progressive lovers of justice, if you

left your sense of humor in bed when you got up, that's not my problem.