Prosecutors will ask judge to drop charges against Strauss-Kahn: report

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office will ask a judge on Tuesday to dismiss all charges in the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, according to a report in The New York Post.

The Post reports that prosecutors are prepared to file a Dismissal On Recommendation motion, saying that the indictment against the former chief of the International Monetary Fund cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt because of credibility problems with Strauss-Kahn's accuser, the case's only witness. From the Post:

Prosecution sources said the motion, also called a Recommendation for Dismissal, will be lengthy, thorough and carefully crafted.

It will set out the facts of the case, possibly including a procedural chronology and details of DA Cyrus Vance Jr.'s labor-intensive, four-month investigation into the strength — and failings — of the evidence.

One source told the paper that the motion will also include new details that work against the credibility of Strauss-Kahn's accuser, Nafissatou Diallo.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of sexually assaulting Diallo on May 14, when the 32-year-old Guinean immigrant came to clean his suite at the Sofitel hotel in New York City. But the case changed drastically a few weeks later, when prosecutors announced that Diallo had lied to them about her background and personal life.

The Sunday report in the Post follows news that prosecutors have scheduled a meeting with Diallo for Monday afternoon. Artie McConnell, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, sent Kenneth Thompson, a lawyer representing Diallo, a two paragraph letter inviting Diallo to the meeting.

“Should she not be available or should she fail to attend, I will assume that she does not wish to take advantage of this opportunity,” McConnell wrote.

“My interpretation of that letter is that they’re going to announce that they’re dismissing the case entirely, or some of the charges,” Thompson told The New York Times on Saturday.

“If they were not going to dismiss the charges,” Mr. Thompson added, “there would be no need to meet with her. They would just go to court the next day to say, ‘We’re going to proceed with the case.’”

Until his arrest in May, Strauss-Kahn was seen as a leading contender to be the next president of France.