If you noticed, when Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested for the alleged sexual assault on a maid at a hotel in New York, I didn’t join in, almost alone in the blogosphere.
Something didn’t seem right. The story was too neat, and too couched in political correctness. It was the same feeling I got when the accusation was made against the Duke Lacrosse players. White privilege, an immigrant victim, a not very sympathetic rich guy … it fit a made-for-media narrative.
Call it instinct, or plain dumb luck, but it now looks like the criminal case against Strauss-Kahn is falling apart, as reported by The New York Times:
The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the housekeeper who charged that he attacked her in his Manhattan hotel suite in May, according to two well-placed law enforcement officials.Although forensic tests found unambiguous evidence of a sexual encounter between Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a French politician, and the woman, prosecutors do not believe much of what the accuser has told them about the circumstances or about herself.Since her initial allegation on May 14, the accuser has repeatedly lied, one of the law enforcement officials said.
AP confirms the problems through its own sources:
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public in court, told The Associated Press that prosecutors have raised issues about the accuser’s credibility in the case against Strauss-Kahn, but would not elaborate on what those issues were.A separate law enforcement official who is familiar with the case, but not authorized to speak about it publicly, told the AP that the issue was not necessarily about the rape accusation itself, but about troubling questions surrounding the alleged victim’s background that could damage her credibility on the witness stand. The official refused to elaborate.
Was there a sexual assault? That’s an open question now, but we shut our minds to the possibility of innocence before.
While I was silent about Strauss-Kahn, I also did not express my skepticism on the blog. Call it a learning lesson.
Update 7-1-2011: Strauss-Kahn was released today on his own personal recognizance. More discussion to be added in a new post here.
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