Dominick Strauss-Kahn was released today on his own personal recognizance, as detailed in The NY Times:
In a letter sent to Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers and filed with Justice Michael J. Obus on Friday, prosecutors outlined some of what they had discovered about Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s accuser, poking holes in her account and her background.
The housekeeper admitted to prosecutors that she lied about what happened after the episode on the 28th floor of the hotel. She had initially said that after being attacked, she had waited in a hallway until Mr. Strauss-Kahn left the room; she now admits that after the episode, she cleaned a nearby room, then returned to Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s suite to clean there. Only after that did she report to her supervisor that she had been attacked.
Prosecutors disclosed that the woman had admitted lying in her application for asylum from Guinea; according to the letter, she “fabricated the statement with the assistance of a male who provided her with a cassette recording” that she memorized. She also said that her claim that she had been the victim of a gang rape in Guinea was also a lie.
The DA’s letter is here, and the letter details, among other things, that the alleged victim lied to the Grand Jury in this case about portions of her story.
The letter does not go into some details that have been reported in the NY Times story, such as her discussing with someone incarcerated the benefits of pursuing the charges and receipt of substantial funds from drug dealers.
So where does this leave us? An alleged victim who lied in the past about being raped (and when she told the false story to prosecutors she “cried and appeared to be markedly distraut”), filed multiple false documents under oath with the government, lied under oath to the grand jury about this case, lied to prosecutors repeatedly during the investigation, may be involved in drug trafficking, and arguably is pursuing the charges for reasons unrelated to the alleged crime.
The letter was a mandatory disclosure of information which may tend to exonerate the defendant, and the Manhattan DA was fulfilling a legal duty by turning over the information. The lettter does not purport to catalog all of the information, but summarizes the information.
The case is not dismissed yet, and it still is possible for the DA to pursue the charges. But that seems unlikely to me. It is one thing to have an alleged victim with past problems, it is another thing to have an alleged victim who lied to the Grand Jury in this case about this incident and lied to prosecutors both about her past and the incident.
I’ve never been a prosecutor and claim no expertise in prosecutorial ethics, so I’ll just give you my belief, for what it’s worth.
Criminal trials should not be crapshoots where the DA throws evidence into the courtroom and sees where it lands. A responsible prosecutor has to exercise discretion and not bring charges if the DA feels that there is not enough credible evidence to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. Who is the better actor or actress on the witness stand should not determine the outcome.
Based on this letter, it’s hard to see how the case moves much further.
Update: A reader posted a video link in a prior post regarding a press conference by the alleged victim’s attorney, in which graphic details were revealed. All of those details would have been known to the DA’s office, yet the office is troubled enough to take these steps. Take the lawyer’s statements with a grain of salt, including allegations that the DA’s office screamed at the alleged victim and her daughter and kicked them out of the DA’s office.
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Shark attack! On a slow news weekend. Oh. And, the New Yoke Times is a ghost town. With everyone away on vacation. Except for a “skeleton” staff.
DSK pulls strings.
Woman is accused of lying to the grand jury. Where she was asked questions that would have gotten her deported.
She didn’t lie about being attacked.
And, ya know what? At that fancy hotel, where she worked for 3 years … she never pocketed anyone’s jewelry. Or stole a sable coat. Or made off with a designer dress! you want to test “honesty?” Try leaving your American Express card, and your wallet … in a rented room.
My guess is that you’ll trust the maid service, too.
That there were angles to get at this woman? You are suprised? Heck, the defense attorneys went to the village in africa where she was born, trying to bribe the chief of her tribe!
I could care less if DSK goes back to france. Or not! What really pisses me off is the way taxpayer money supports the IMF. And, all the crooks at the UN!
While after DSK gets back to france … will obama invite him to return to DC? Will he show up at a state dinner?
If lawyers are bad, politicians are evil!
The slow weekend, however, should give you a clue that the story is supposed to free DSK. And, not get to be a topic exposed by our GOT’CHA journalism midgets.
There are too many coincidences in this case. I do not mean about the rape. That too sounds sketchy. But there are too many other coincidences.
Look at the time line:
Wednesday: Christine Lagarde is named head of IMF, effective July 5.
Thursday: The DA announces that the case has fallen apart.
Friday: DSK is essentially set free. Yes, he is still on his own recognizance but has no bail. If he skips over the July 5 weekend, who will notice?
Christine Lagarde: She is the French Finance Minister but spent more than a third of her life and most of her career in Chicago as managing partner of a huge multi-national law firm McKenzie-Baker.
She was there from about 1980 to a bit after 2000 or more than 20 years.
What are her connections to Obama during that time? To Rahm Emmanuel? Valerie Jarrett? Other Obama cronies?
The DA is the DSK case is, wait for it, Cyrus Vance. Not Cyrus Vance the elder, LBJ fixer/bagman, carter Sec State but his son.
I learned of the LaGarde Chicago connection 3-4 weeks ago from the No Agenda podcast http://www.seanhannity.com and did some research. One of the things I found, I forget where now, is that McKenzie Baker does a lot of business with Libya.
There are just too many coincidences for me to get my head around. If we had any press in the US not in the tank for Obama, perhaps someone would look into this.
So far not a word. The only thing I have seen is a Drudge link to the Chinese news agency mentioning that LaGarde has Chicago connections but not saying anything about what they are.
John
To clarify re the alleged rape:
I do think it occurred. I do think there was sex involved and that it was not consensual.
Just to be clear what I meant about it being sketchy in the previous note.
John
Given the abominable conditions for women in the maid’s home country of Guinea, West Africa, it’s reasonable to believe she has been desperately and rightfully afraid for her life and safety on more than one occasion during her life. Imagine how anxious and fearful she would remain, even while living in the U.S., after experiencing such brutality, and constantly wary of the potential for our government to deport her. Such intense fear, added to the fact that it’s not uncommon for rape and sexual assault victims to have difficulty remembering details of the attacks after the trauma, could account for the cited inconsistencies in the maid’s statements.After the DSK attack brought her unwanted international attention, her fear of deportation likely became even more intense, and she could have recanted the Guinea gang rape claim in her asylum application fearing even worse retaliatory violence would be inflicted on her if returned to her own country. Here are links to a story about the horrific conditions for women in Guinea, as well as to an initial article about the DSK attack on the maid emphasizing the confidence the maid’s attorneys and the police had in her story then. I continue to believe that DSK bought his way out of this.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201011120894.html
http://www.africanoutlookonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1832:guinean-woman-allegedly-raped-by-strauss-kahn-lives-in-housing-for-adults-with-hiv&catid=99:outlookscroller
There is evidence of rape beyond just her word. It doesn’t matter that she lied in the past. This is standard defense attorney stuff: put the victim on trial. And we are all milking it up. We aren’t hearing from her attorneys, of course, only prosecution and defense. Sickening.
“Update: A reader posted a video link in a prior post regarding a press conference by the alleged victim’s attorney, in which graphic details were revealed. All of those details would have been known to the DA’s office, yet the office is troubled enough to take these steps. Take the lawyer’s statements with a grain of salt, including allegations that the DA’s office screamed at the alleged victim and her daughter and kicked them out of the DA’s office.”
Why should we accept the prosecution’s statements at face value but doubt her lawyer’s statements? Shouldn’t we be equally skeptical of both? This screams political pressure.
A muslim woman. Not exactly brought up on the idea that sex is fun. And, she’s raising a daughter. She is widowed. She lives in Harlem. And, she cleans hotel rooms for a subsistence living.
She sounds like she was reluctant. Not running to the police. But, yes. She got to be irrational at work. Because she said a guest, whom she was told had already checked out … lept at her. He was naked. And, had been hiding in the bathroom.
He then runs out of the hotel without checking out.
Was the woman a citzen? No.
Was she terrified she’d lose her job. Yes.
Supposedly, she has a boyfriend who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars selling pot. And, still, she goes to work to keep her job as a hotel maid. Unbelievable.
Then, this story falls open on a slow news day.
Coincidence?
It just proves, once again, if you find yourself being raped, the best thing to do is “just lean back and enjoy it.”
Also, always carry Vaseline. The putz won’t mind if you rub some of this on his erect member.
Do not tell the cops! And, don’t go to a hospital.
While I did read that to throw him off … the maid gave such a shove … DSK flew into an armoir. Which is a fancy word for saying “dresser drawer.” When the cops checked, though, DSK’s semen was on the maid. And, when he was booked, it was noticed he had a bruise on his back.
Maybe, DSK thought it was due to “rough sex” with a muslim woman from Africa?
Why, when the police finally arrested him on board the plane (that had not yet taxi’ed out of the gate) … did DSD lie and say he had diplomatic immunity?
I think “pushing this story out” on a slow news day … is what some newspapers did on 9/11 … To get rid of stories they never wanted anyone to see.
Now, except for the Internet, this rape charge and release … would have disappeared down the toilet.
I saw the alleged victim’s lawyer make the statement on CNBC. The problem is his “proof” of bruises and injuries could be self-inflicted pictures or not. All he has is proof that there were bruises, not how they got there.
It also seems that the consensus is that even if the charges are dismissed, because the alleged victim refuses to drop charges, this could go on for weeks or even months.
I don’t know what the chances are that DSK will plea to reduced charges just to end this (in my non-qualified opinion I believe they are probably very low but greater than zero) but if he really wants to run for president, he needs to end this now. She is facing jail time for perjury and deportation for lying on her application for US residency so why should she drop charges?
Also, the DA is being smeared for having jumped the gun and rushing to judgment which is not true at all. There was a victim with credible evidence willing to file charges and DSK was already on a plane heading to France. The DA had no alternative than to arrest DSK before he fled. If that is not made clear before the charges are dropped, Europeans will continue to with their foolish “conspiracy” charges and “cowboy mentality” of American law enforcement. I may be wrong but it sure looks to me like Cyrus Vance handled this as well as could be expected.
Anyone who has worked on sexual assault cases knows that it is not unusual for rape victims to lie about embarrassing details of the crime, their own conduct or about their past histories. An example is a woman who engages in consensual foreplay but gets raped when she says no to intercourse. Another example is a woman who, realizing the man isn’t going to stop even though she told him to, asks him to wear a condom. In these examples the victims might lie because they are afraid they won’t be believed if they tell the whole truth.
Their reasons for lying may be understandable but once they are caught lying it creates reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.
@Carol Herman: You gravely misunderstand Muslim attitudes toward sex. Muslims are perfectly fine with sex; they think it’s just great. But only within the confines of marriage.
If muslims “loved” sex, women wouldn’t have clitorectomies. And, they wouldn’t wear burkas.
What islam gives men are women who are like sheep. Centuries of killing off the female that has gumption has led to females who do what they are told.
Now, here. The maid was widowed. And, she has a teenage daughter. Her experiences in the USA conform to a lot that goes on in harlem’s black community … where people from africa NOW, do everything they can to stay.
Also, the maid worked hard. Nobody with money … or using sex to get to money … wants to slave away cleaning hotel rooms.
DSK has used money and connections to toss off all restrictions. IF this case gets to court … he’ll be living with Roman Polanski.
The media? They’re just artists at shoveling shit. It’s sort’a like Ronald Reagan said. If a man is an optimist. And,you give him a shovel. And, he’s told to shovel shit out of a barn … He whistles as he works … because he’s sure with so much shit … there must be a pony in the pile.
You know, I don’t “gravely misunderstand” the religion of peace. They’re not peaceful, either.
The timeline of events is suspicious to me. Arrest, we are told the case is strong, arraignment, house arrest. Then he resigns from the IMF.
To counter the allegations of past womanizing, the IMF picks a French woman from Chicago to be the new leader….someone the Obama administration approves of. Then immediately after this is announced, the case falls apart.
Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. But it looks suspicious to me.
Ok, ok… I’m no fan of DSK, but we see people making excuses for the accuser, and conveniently leaving out some pertinent facts. They are leaping to gross assumptions regarding this woman, when her lies are far more than just being a woman from a muslim country who ‘had to lie’ to gain asylum.
She’s not a single mother, the daughter is not her child, she’s admitted that the girl is someone else’s child, she claimed the girl is her daughter, to gain earned income tax credit. The woman lied about knowing who DSK was, it was revealed that the guests on the VIP floor have their photographs and names in the housekeeping area, so the housekeepers can be familiar with who is supposed to be on that particular floor, and who isn’t. The accuser didn’t normally work on that floor, but she requested to be assigned to that floor on that day, as a replacement for a co-worker who was absent. She lied about what she did after the alleged rape. She didn’t report it to her supervisor, she went off to clean another room.
She’s not some ‘modest’ devout muslim, there are photographs of her out carousing and drinking alcohol in clubs. She’s involved with a drug dealer, who has also got a record of money laundering. She lied about having only one cell phone, but has 5 of these accounts in her name, the phones are used by her boyfriend’s drug and criminal gang. Her bank account regularly has larged sums laundered through it. She spoke with her boyfriend who is in jail serving a long sentence, on the phone, asking his advise on whether she should accuse DSK of rape, and file charges and pursue the matter for financial gain.
She lives in an apartment owned by an ACORN connected organization, that provides housing to people with AIDS, yet has hundreds of thousands of dollars regularly cycling through her bank account. Everything about herself is a lie, she’s connected to criminals. It’s been learned that she was given a tape of other rape victims, and memorized the testimonies on it, and relied on that to learn how to perform as a rape victim to gain asylum. She is a serial liar.
Now, yes, DSK is a pig, a serial abuser, but I have a problem with false accusations of rape, for personal profit. It brings the real victims of rape into disrepute, makes a mockery of them and what they go through. It makes it harder for real victims of rape, to have to go through what they have to.. and I know what that is like, because at the age of 19, I was raped.
Acorn, Chicago, drugs and socialism? Are we sure she’s not from Kenya?
(yes, that’s a joke)
After being raped, DSK fled the hotel. And, even if the maid went about “cleaning another room,” she couldn’t bring herself to clean up the mess in DSK’s room.
Crimes happen to people who aren’t necessarily nice. Our criminal justice system has gone to hell in a hand basket because it is so easy to attack victims. That it’s become a sport among defense attorneys.
Of course, I’m suspicious that this “fell” into a slow news cycle. Is it possible DSK is thrilled at this timing?
You can bet, given how fancy this hotel really IS! And, how famous DSK was to management … the easiest person to send home to recover … without calling the police at all. Was the maid.
Didn’t happen that way!
Perhaps, DSK beat the shit out of a few whores … And, cleaning up his room after his “sex-capades” was routine? What management didn’t expect was that this would happen to one of their black maids.
That’s the ball that gets set in motion.
That the IMF will rip us off, ahead? You bet I think this is so! I bet this is one reason the political crooks want the debt ceiling lifted … so American taxpayer money can go to greece’s debt payment. Which only feeds European banks!
So far, a lot of money has changed hands in this story.
Just you wait. And, watch DS-K sauntering off with funds to his pals in Europe. And, the UN. It’s another “kenetic” war … where we lose just for intervening.
The maid? She gets deported.
The lawyers? They’ll make a mint.
The lesson learned? Don’t go to the police. It won’t solve anything.
For the hotel? Like Nixon said, it’s all publicity. As long as the papers spell your name correctly.
Now, I had heard of the Plaza. But I never heard of the Softell. Softeil. Or hotel, before. Yet it was a 5-star place. Dead center in Midtown. Right next door to the New Yoke Times. And, porn stores. A mecca for tourists.
What makes this story so sad is that going after the witness with tax returns, you can figure out one thing. She didn’t sit down and do her own returns. But probably went to a tax service like H & R Block. The money was already paid! The IRS takes workers money by deductions of each pay check.
At H & R Block, they’re aiming to get back tax refunds for clients. And, so, a client is asked to provide deductions. The categories are given out. And, this maid isn’t the only one who learned she need to report a minor. To qualify for getting some of her own money back.
This doesn’t mean she wasn’t attacked by the naked man in the room, he was supposed to have exited by “check out.” Actually, the guy never checks out.
Then, after this woman is attacked by the “naked guy” … he rips at her panty hose. He lusts and lunges at her breasts. He throws her on the bed. And, when she runs to the bathroom … he follows her there. And, forces her head down on his erect penis.
Now, we are told this story has had holes punched in it, because the woman, with the help of a tax preparer, went for a deduction she didn’t deserve.
Do you know what’s wrong with this level of attack against a witness?
My mom came to America in 1913. She was 8. Her sister was 6. And, her brother, 10. She didn’t speak a word of English. But immediately went to public school.
There are plenty of immigrant families like this. Where the kids learn to speak English. While the parents at home only speak the “old” language. Foreign ones.
The parents also have a terrible fear of the police. Because that’s the way it is in foreign countries.
So, my mom told me that she got lost. By walking a block out of her way. When suddenly she had no idea how to get home. A policeman found her crying. She spoke English by then. And, he took her to the pricinct. Where every effort was made to find her parents. (Parents who wouldn’t go to the police. But were worried their child was kidnapped. And, had “disappeared.”)
When the police arrived and told the dad to come to the police station … he went meekly. He identified his daughter who was so glad to see him.
But once at home my mom got beaten by her parents. Because they didn’t understand English. They only knew the police pick you up if you get into trouble. The police are to be avoided at all costs.
My mother couldn’t explain that in America the police were okay.
That’s why, when I read The Godfather, by Mario Puzo. Back in 1971 … “before the movie” … But it was really a best seller. I couldn’t understand how people would admire this book!
Right in the beginning, the Godfather is in his office. It is his daughter’s wedding day. And, it is the one day when anyone (Italian, of course), could come in and make a request of the Godfather. And, he would grant it.
The decent man came in to report his daughter’s rape. He wanted revenge. That’s when I shut the book, and tossed it across the floor! You couldn’t tell me a decent man wouldn’t go to the police! It was the mafia contacts that were supposed to be feared.
Well, it seems, rapes do produce strong feelings for revenge. It should have been safe to report a rape to the police. But, here, obviously, it is not!
Here, in America, when a victim reports a rape, all she can be sure of is that her tax returns will go under the microscope.
Not the fact that the IRS gets its money, first.
(You know, “getting deductions” is one of the reasons gays want “marriage.” Which is nothing more than a column where you can deduct “costs” to lower your tax burden.)
Romance? You wanted romance! Fuck it.
Going to the police to report a crime is now so stupid … what would the best advice be? Go to bed. Get some medicine. Cry a lot. But don’t go to the police! If your perp has political connections you’ll pay a very heavy price.
Here? The woman’s character has been assailed.
What’s sucking on a penis compared to this?
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PC at it’s best.