Strauss-Kahn: Prosecutors seek to drop charges
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Prosecutors have filed papers formally asking a judge to drop the sexual assault charges against powerful French financier Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The filing in New York State Supreme Court came as Strauss-Kahn’s accuser on Monday met with prosecutors, who were expected to explain their decision to abandon her case.
Just before the meeting, her lawyers filed a motion to have the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., removed, accusing him of botching the case.
“Because of the DA’s actions, abuse of confidence and unfair treatment, bias and prejudices, the DA is unfit to try to this case,” lawyers Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor wrote in a court filing.
Nafissatou Diallo, a 33-year-old West African immigrant, said Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her May 14. But questions surfaced about her credibility after she misled prosecutors on several occasions.
Strauss-Kahn, who has insisted that their encounter in a Manhattan hotel suite was consensual, is scheduled to be in court Tuesday, when a judge is likely to approved the prosecutors’ request to dismiss the case.
Diallo and Thompson arrived in a black town car shortly before the 3 p.m. meeting and entered prosecutors’ offices without talking to reporters.
‘The Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus Vance has denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case,’ Thompson told reporters.
Thompson declined to take questions.
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-- Geraldine Baum and Tina Susman in New York
