Dominique Strauss-Kahn was set to walk free Tuesday after New York prosecutors said that while the powerful Frenchman did have sex with his hotel maid, they could not prove an assault because the alleged victim’s lies undermined the case beyond repair. Within hours, New York state Judge Michael Obus is due to rule on a motion filed by prosecutors Monday to dismiss all charges against Strauss-Kahn.
The sensational turn around would mean Strauss-Kahn — forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund and shelve his French presidential dreams — was free to leave with his millionaire wife back to France. But the man who had been widely touted to replace President Nicolas Sarkozy in upcoming elections will return with his reputation badly sullied.
The 25-page motion to drop the case concluded that Strauss-Kahn engaged in a hurried sex act May 14 with the Manhattan maid, a Guinean immigrant called Nafissatou Diallo, and that the initial investigation suggested an assault.
A lawyer for the 32-year-old maid hit out angrily after being told of the decision at the prosecutors’ offices in Manhattan, where a media scrum and hundreds of onlookers greeted their arrival. “The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, has denied the right to a woman to get justice in a rape case,” Thompson said after the brief meeting, which lasted less than 15 minutes.
Thompson accused Vance of having “turned his back” on forensic, medical and other physical evidence.
