The rapidly dissolving case against former IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces challenges fairly common in sexual assault prosecutions, namely a less-than-perfect accuser.
So, while Manhattan prosecutors face a more difficult task now that the accuser has been found to have lied on several occasions, including about what happened immediately after the purported attack, it is too soon to consider the case closed.
“This would not be the first case where an important prosecution witness turned out not to be the angel or pure victim that the prosecution initially thought. Nor would it be the first case a prosecution’s office took a case to trial where a witness had real credibility issues,” Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman said.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance admitted a setback with revelations about the accuser’s past.
“She’s already lied under oath in this case. I can’t imagine more of a home run for the defense,” said Gerald Lefcourt, a well-known Manhattan defense attorney.
However, tellingly, experts said, prosecutors did not dismiss the case, a strong indication they believe the hotel maid’s story that Strauss-Kahn attacked her in a luxury suite. Had Vance given up hope, he likely would have folded the case immediately.
There’s no doubt, however, that prosecutors face a much more difficult path to conviction because Strauss-Kahn’s defense lawyers would seize upon the accuser’s past misstatements and try to discredit her before any jury.
“It’s theoretically possible that the case could survive because there’s a long history of sex crimes being prosecuted by imperfect complaining witnesses,” said Paul Callan, a former prosecutor now in private practice.
Crucial to the case would be to present corroborating evidence beyond forensics evidence gathered from the hotel suite and in medical examinations of the accused and accuser.
Defense lawyers could argue any sexual contact was consensual.
If there were witnesses in the hotel who heard the woman scream or testify that she looked distraught after the incident, prosecutors could use that to bolster their case in spite of inconsistencies in the woman’s own story, said Bradley Simon, a defense attorney in Manhattan.
Prosecutors say the woman lied to immigration authorities while seeking US asylum, claiming she had been gang-raped in her native Guinea. The story was fabricated, though the woman said she was raped on another occasion under different circumstances.
In addition, she changed her story about what happened immediately after the purported attack.
She testified under oath before the grand jury that she had cowered in the hallway outside his room until he left and she felt safe to seek help. Now she admits she cleaned another room and then returned to start cleaning Strauss-Kahn’s suite before reporting the incident.
“Frequently, rape victims don’t report the rape immediately because of shame, humiliation and embarrassment,” Callan said.
Forensic evidence, such as blood in the hotel room, would also independently support the woman’s allegations, Simon said.
“Their task is going to be much harder now, but it’s not insurmountable,” he said.
However, waiting to report the assault makes it appear as if she calculated the possible benefits of lying about a sexual attack before reporting the incident, Lefcourt said.
A defense attorney could also argue that the time she spent in the room after Strauss-Kahn left could have been used to doctor the scene of the alleged assault.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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