August 22, 2011

"The prosecutors have basically adopted the defense arguments."

"They appear to bend over backwards to try to excuse their decision to run away from this case."

The lawyer for Nafissatou Diallo, who accused Dominque Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, complains about the prosecutor's "hatchet job on Ms. Diallo’s credibility," as Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. moves to dismiss the case.

49 comments:

Sal said...

Who are all of those overweight black guys in the NYT photo? Does the woman actually have bodyguards?

Automatic_Wing said...

They need to deport this lying grifter ASAP. And Diallo as well.

traditionalguy said...

Diallo's lawyer is spot on.

The politically privileged DA went for the richest person instead of for justice.

That is so sad to see,

What is left now for American's to show the world that we are different from aristocracies everywhere, now that we sell out the poor to the rich in our new version of Justice.

They liked to joke that the golden rule is whoever has the gold call the shots.

Once upon a time that was not true in the American Republic founded by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It is so sad.

Bender said...

Had the defendant been your typical poor dumb shmuck, instead of one of the rich elite, the prosecution would be saying that it is up to the jury to decide who to believe.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The silence of Jesse Jackson and Rev Al is deafening.

..or maybe, after so much noise from them we have gone deaf and we will no loger hear from them.

Naa.

The Crack Emcee said...

MarkG,

Who are all of those overweight black guys in the NYT photo? Does the woman actually have bodyguards?

Last I heard, they were The New Black Panthers.

I'm with Maguro - get 'em all outta here.

Methadras said...

Told you. Money talks. They are all guilty.

Anonymous said...

the prosecution would be saying that it is up to the jury to decide who to believe

The prosecution is saying, implicitly, that it has no case. No 12 people will believe the prosecution because the case is too weak.

I, personally, am happy to see a prosecutor exercise this excellent discretion. It should happen more often.

Carol_Herman said...

DSK hired a firm that has CIA and prosecutor connections. No big surprise.

Unless? Tomorrow, by some madcap magician's work, Thompson's partner Wigdor returns from Paris. With a hot potato.

Or? DSK can become the stinkiest head cheese in frawnce. I wouldn't care.

I also know Diallo wasn't manning the phones at the Sofitel's front desk, when (happenstance) DSK called there, to find out if room service had located his lost cell phone. (Nope. They didn't. But the cops lied.) It was about 4PM. Was the made already examined at the hospital? Was the complaint already in?

Then why did the police keep holding the maid till 3:00 AM?

And, since her name was supposed to be kept secret. And, it was, for two days ... it only got discovered by an Internet hacker.

So. By then. Wouldn't you think that the maid would see that DSK was a rich man?

What? You need to see the musical?

Bender said...

If the prosecution is saying it has no case, then it should not have said it did before.

If they don't have a case, then they never should have arrested and indicted the defendant. Having brought the case this far, given the difficulties in women reporting rape in the first place, the accuser is entitled to her day in court.

Besides, it is not true that they "don't have a case." What they now have is a case of she-said, he-said. Questions of credibility are for the jury.

I don't know if he's guilty. I don't know if he's not guilty. AND NO ONE HERE KNOWS THAT EITHER.

If the defendant were some uneducated indigent nobody, the prosecution would let the jury decide. But I guess it is good to be rich and elite and white and liberal.

Carol_Herman said...

There are actually different DA's in the boroughs. So, by Thompson filing in the Bronx, he basically dumped Manhattan.

In 2013 the civil case meanders into a Bronx Courtroom. AND, the DA is up, again, for re-election.

Were political chips called in?

You mean you couldn't guess that Cyrus Vance's dad worked for Jimmy Carter and the family has political connections?

If this was a LAW & ORDER season's end ... You'd tune in ... in the fall ... to see more twists and turns.

My sympathy's with the maid. She had her job 3 years. At an organization on par with Disney.

While, sure.

The hotel is on 44th Street. Where anyone can find a whore walking the streets. But if she isn't diseased, she's a drug addict.

Obviously, DSK made a mistake. He thought he was walking outside, while he was still inside. And, then? He thought the hotel supplied chocolates. He was tempted. And, took one. Why pay for something the hotel provides free?

That a stinky cheese like this could become president of frawnce? More power to him. If Merkel's still in germany, I hope he then tackles her good. Knocks her on the floor. And, flips her skirt over her head. For good measure.

Levi Starks said...

It disturbs me that in order to get justice the victim must be above reproach.
Haven't they just told her she's fair game for any degenerate that she might happen to find herself alone with.

Anonymous said...

If the prosecution is saying it has no case, then it should not have said it did before.

So, under your theory, prosecutors cannot change course when new facts are discovered. Further, under your theory, Strauss-Kahn would have escaped to France (remember all that?) and would never, ever, ever face an American tribunal under any circumstances no matter how guilty he is.

Weak. And utterly lacking in any understanding. Try again.

Anonymous said...

Levi -- Above reproach is not the same standard as credible witness. Interesting that you conflate those two things, though.

Levi Starks said...

call me cynical, but it looks to me like in this instance being "above reproach" would be the only way this case would have gone to trial. It's just my opinion, but at some point I think the investigation turned into "how can we just make this go away"

Anonymous said...

The full story will come out, inasmuch as some guy at Vanity Fair can get it, but there is no question that this woman appears shady.

I think at this point, since as has been pointed, nobody knows the facts, you have to give some benefit of the doubt to the prosecutor.

By the way, if it makes you people feel any better, cases get dropped at this point in the process all the time. It's not just rich French guys.

Carol_Herman said...

Abner Louima. Ring bells?

In 1997 the Haitian immigrant was arrested in Brooklyn. And, taken to the 70th precinct. Where 3 on-duty cops (and one watching guard). Proceeded to stick a toilet plunger into Abner Louima's rear end. Causing rectal and intestinal damage.

When the criminal case begins, Kenneth Thompson is an Assistant DA in Brooklyn. The cops said "Abner Louima was lying, because none of them shouted out "IT'S RUDY GUILIANI TIME."

Abner Louima was called a liar.

But ... Oh, go Google.

But Kenneth Thompson then sets out on his own ... He ends up being Abner Louima's Civil attorney. And, when the case settles (before it goes to court). The Police Union throws in towards the $5-million pot.

I should add that Kenneth Thompson's own mother was a police woman for 21years in the Bronx. One of the first to ever "walk a beat." (So I'm guessing Thompson grew up seeing barriers coming down.)

He doesn't enter this case, right in the beginning, either. Diallo wakes to seeing this case on TV. Where DSK is being "perp walked" off the Air France plane. AND, she recognizes him! He's the guest that assaulted her, in the hotel's suite.

Alas, the case ends up in Manhattan. Where Cyrus Vance got elected on the demorapic ticket. To replace Morganthau. Who is now 91. After he finally retired from 35 years on the job. (Inside the DA's office, it's like a SNAKE PIT now. With old Morganthau people pushed aside.)

And, Cyrus Vancc just saw the case against the two cops accused of rape, going south. Because his office "somehow" blew the DNA evidence against the cops to smithereens. Surprise. Surprise.

Oh, and one of the cops, where BOTH got fired from the NYPD, is facing off against an ex-wife. Where the judge there upped this cop's child support. Because he's no longer working. And, his ex-wife has a job. ($60,000 per year.) Instead of 450 a month. She's paying her ex, now, $1,200.

But at least it's in the papers.

If nothing else, Ken Thompson has a record of all his interactions with the DA's office.

It's not as if you just see "Black People" ... It's NYC ... It's Harlem. It's the Bronx. And, it's Brooklyn.

This story has legs.

Though they may belong to Cyrus Vance ... as he stumbles? He's the one who came to New York City from Seattle.

Everybody else has experience.

Where's Cyrus Vance? Yesterday, he hid under his desk. Tomorrow, he'll probably send some assistant DA female into the court house. As he continues to field his job as if it's a political plumb.

So, we shall see.

traditionalguy said...

"A Creditable Witness" is the one obviously telling the truth when examined and cross-examined in open Court. It really works!

The DA is making up a story that she is not a creditable witness because she hid her immigration status problems to keep a job where she was safe.

A jury alone will to tell us who is creditable, which is why a jury will never be allowed to hear this case.

If a Money Changing Thief cannot get away with rape of a poor wage slave, then what good is money?

That lesson must be carefully hidden by the Money Changing Aristocracy of Thieves.

In the scriptures the currency changing thieves were driven from the Temple once by that Galilean Prophet.

But he stirred up a hornets nest and the fix went in to save the currency changing scam profits that the Sanhedrin leadership families all relied upon.

Anonymous said...

The DA is making up a story that she is not a creditable witness because she hid her immigration status problems to keep a job where she was safe.

There's much more to it than that. For example, she seemed to be working with her boyfriend from the very beginning to get money from the case.

There has been much else reported.

Moreover, she is still free to sue as far as I know and get her eye for an eye. The bar for a guilty verdict is much lower. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" is maybe 90 percent. "A preponderance of the evidence is 51 percent.

Carol_Herman said...

Most people staying at the Sofitel are coming in from out of town, to out of the country.

Women who come in ... have diamonds. Mink coats. Expensive clothes and shoes.

And, this maid never stole anything!

She showed up for work. And, had a decent work record. The maid DID NOT call the police! She NEVER touched "that" phone.

First, she spoke to her supervisor. TOGETHER they went back into the room. (So you get the 2nd card swipe.)

You've heard Diallo is engaged to be married. HORSE SHIT. SET UP.

And, after weeks of wrangling FINALLY Ken Thompson was allowed in with his client, Nafi Diallo. To hear these tapes. He brought his own interpreter. They spent 8 hours going over 3 recordings. And, NEVER ONCE do the words show up that she talked about money! When she told the MAN WHO CALLED HER FROM ARIZONA ... only he could make OUTGOING CALLS! That's how they got taped.

So, she never said what the "leaks" said she said.

Then, you have the lawsuit against the NY Post. Who said she was whoring. And, the police put her in the whore house, too.

What's the "BIG PLAY" TOMORROW?

It's not just DISMISSED ... BUT THE RECORDS GET SEALED.

Judge Obus can HIDE THE TRUTH as well as anybody.

Does he?

The Sofitel has no records?

They run like Disney!

(By the way, I made a typo in the amount the ex-wife was paying in child support. It WASN'T $450 a month! It was only $50 per month.

New York is about the dirty-ist city in America. Probably more shit going down there than in New Orleans.

And, you don't think the story you've heard so far doesn't have legs?

Gene said...

Seven Machos: I, personally, am happy to see a prosecutor exercise this excellent discretion. It should happen more often.

I agree. Most of the time, it seems, the prosecution fights cases to the bitter end, even when they surely just know they're wrong.

There's another elephant in the room that no one is mentioning. A couple of months ago several news stories reported that Diallo had a practice of accepting large cash gifts from men whose rooms she cleaned. I think the prosecution didn't want to go through the trauma of defending a black woman about whom some rather devastating charges would be made by the defense in court.

I think they were thinking that when the jury failed to convict Diallo supporters would burn down the city as happened in the Rodney King case.

Anonymous said...

One reason not to prosecute is all the different come that was found all over the Sofitel suite.

This is why I try to stay in trashy hourly motels whenever possible. Cleaner.

mccullough said...

7M,

One of the stains was on the wall. WTF! Must be the guy from the grassy knoll. Did anyone clean that room?

edutcher said...

But you must understand, DSK, according to his wife, is not a rapist.

He is a seducer.

Which is what Hillary tells herself regarding Willie.

Hagar said...

Mission accomplished.

DS-K will not be president of France.

Phil 314 said...

I, personally, am happy to see a prosecutor exercise this excellent discretion. It should happen more often.

I just wish all of the DA's actions had been discrete (I.e. not behind a microphone & in front of a camera)

Damon said...

I like reading comments on charged topics, but didn't expect to find such a rush to judgement from comments on this blog. These are rising to the level of comments on MSM articles.

There is an innocent until proven guilty theme that is missing. Proven guilty by a over-eager DA is not the standard.

I have seen zero, zilch, zippo, nada evidence that there was a rape besides the word of the accuser. Yet people are so quick to talk about political privilege, rich elite, uneducated indigent, and the like. There is absolutely no reason to believe those things played a role in this decision.

Asking a DA to bring a trial to court and throw up some evidence and see if it sticks is just stupid, bordering on criminal. If the DA did put everyone through a trail based on what I have seen he may just get disbarred like a certain other rush to judgement in NC.

There is no political reason for the DA to backtrack. DSK has been crushed. You hear no supporters, especially politically, anywhere. The DA also has to take a hit because now it is evident there was rush on things when a slower more deliberate path would have been prudent. The DA wanted to put a notch on the belt, but now has the tail between the legs. That is why you see them falling all over themselves to distance them from the situation.

And finally we get to the accuser. This is no victim. This woman is not acting like a rape victim in any sense. She is acting like an opportunistic person with her press conferences and the like. You can't point to one other situation where a raped person has shown the same approach to dealing with something supposedly traumatic. Sure, she was possibly raped, but the evidence sure doesn't point in that direction and the DA was right in dismissing the case.

Tank said...

Ron Kuby, subbing for John Gambling, was on the radio this morning agreeing with the DA's decision. He outlined some of the many lies she has told both before and after the incident.

In his view, the most damaging lies were the ones after the incident, and he went through some of extensive lying she engaged in when talking to the prosecutors.

The guy looks like a dirt bag to me. But, the problem with being a serial liar is that, when you are really a victim, and want/need people to believe you, ... too bad.

No, the DA is probably making the right call here. He knows he has a "victim" without a shred of credibility, and he is properly using his discretion to say that, from this point forward, he will direct the limited resourses of his office to cases he can win.

Could he have handled this better? Yes. That should not prevent him from taking the proper action now.

Hagar said...

Mission accomplished.

DS-K will not be president of France.

So tell your DA in New York to wrap this up and drop it.

G Joubert said...

Some may call it "prosecutorial discretion," but it's really more practical than that, and not all that high-sounding either. It's giving simple recognition to the fact that the defendant is a very wealthy and extremely powerful man on the world stage who will buy the best thouroughbred defense team to be had to skewer the claims of an imperfect complaining victim. Cyrus Vance, Jr was going to be overwhelmed, bested, have his professional lunch handed to him in a very public way, kinda like Marcia Clark in the OJ case, kinda like that poor hapless DA in Eagle County, CO bringing a rape charge against Kobe Bryant, who put up a $20m+ defense in an otherwise garden-variety case. Vance wanted no part of the buzzsaw he saw coming.

traditionalguy said...

The evidence points to a rape of the American Judicial system assisted by the Cyrus Vance propaganda team.

That is what we face from this high profile case being shut down based upon grade B propaganda.

The USA has benefited greatly from the world's belief in our basic honest court system that protects the weak from the powerful, not vice versa as the rest of the world's show time court systems.

We were seen as a country where investments are safe from theft and prejudice pograms.

Oops, selling DSK a get out of jail free card just killed that goose that once laid golden eggs for everyone.

What DSK does later for Cy Vance will not benefit the rest of us now easy to fool citizens.

Shouting Thomas said...

Amazing... our commenters have hatched at least five different conspiracy theories to account for the outcome of the case.

I suspect that the prosecutor's published reasons for dropping the case explain everything.

Unfortunately, the doesn't make for a good conspiracy movie.

Heart_Collector said...

The french are classy. I'm glad Obama expanded treasure to give europe its oil well.

Decent puppet regimes take a lot of planning, time and money. Now we will have a euro islamo oil state.

Ww-III will be US, China and Russia against the islamos and by that point we will already be held hostage from within. In 2060 the crusades come to you.

Once Israeli falls we are a big number two.

Wv-quetorr-brother of a althouse commentor.

Michael said...

Good move. There was no rape, the maid is a liar, a serial liar, and the rape in NY was as bogus as the non-gang rape that got her admitted to the US in the first place. What the heck are we doing letting people like her into the country? We exclude talented and educated people from all over the world in favor of illiterates?

Sometimes rich people are innocent. sometimes poor illiterate people who are at the dead center of the narrative are guilty. And conniving. And liars.

Diallo's lawyer can go back to obscurity as can Diallo and her bodyguards.

Carol_Herman said...

THE FIX IS IN!

Judge Obus, in accepting the "dismiss" ... then HIDES ALL THE EVIDENCE UNDER SEAL!

Diallo will forever be smeared.

Unless, of course, justice pops out, again. And, shows you how corrupt Manhattan really is, folks.

Carol_Herman said...

Diallo's lawyer, Ken Thompson, isn't in "obscurity." Back in 1997, he was the assistant DA in Brooklyn. Who gave the opening argument against the police officers who tortured Abner Louima. At their station house.

Back then, the big lie was that Abner Louima heard the cops saying "IT'S RUDY GUILIANI TIME." And, this statement was judged to be a lie.

The "innocent" police officers, however, were found guilty.

As to Cyrus Vance, his office just lost the RAPE CASE againt the two cops who raped a drunken female they were "tasked to help her get safely home."

The NYPD fired the two officers, anyway.

But the DA blew the DNA evidence in that case to smithereens.

Carol_Herman said...

DSK reminds me of Aristotle Onassis. What a piece of shit he was. And, no. Jackie Kennedy wasn't really happy there.

Money isn't everything.

DSK's wife is going bald. So, it's not as if there's no price to pay for being married to her "seducer."

Where does the evidence go now? UNDER SEAL. Because the judge will dismiss AND HIDE THE EVIDENCE.

Cute.

William said...

The woman claimed to have been gang raped by soldiers in her native country, Guinea. The story was accepted because it is a common occurrence in that country....I note in passing that gang rapes in Guinea are tolerated with a shrug of the shoulder and that this rape, whose facts are in question, caused widespread outrage.

Carol_Herman said...

The Sofitel runs like Disney. Runs with efficiency seen at Disney!

To work there was a safe haven for this maid! She's good a good 3 year work record. She was believed. While the french guest WAS NOT!

You can argue all you want how people react when their adrenaline is running. And, they've been attacked. Or been in an accident.

Ken Thompson didn't even come on board until the first week comes to a close.

The woman woke up (after being brught home at 3AM) by the police. To get up at 7:00 AM, to prepare for work, again. When she put on ABC news and saw DSK! Realizing this is the guy who raped her. She began to fear for her life!

Then, she spoke to people within her community. Who knew she was illiterate. A man, among her acquaintances, hearing her story. Searched the Internet for her to find a lawyer.

Then, that lawyer, Shapiro, I think; calls in Ken Thompson. Who takes the case. After, I am sure he interviews Diallo.

Her name wasn't supposed to be known! It was supposed to be a secret. (Victims names are kept out of the press.) But her name got hacked on the Internet.

As far As it goes, frawnce is more than welcome to this piece of crap. Just like greece was welcome to Aristotle Onassis.

That these men are "nice" is highly overrated.

Michael said...

There was no rape. There is no "fix." The current presumption of guilt on the part of all males in rape cases is troubling as is the presumption of innocence of any person of color. I can see that "the narrative" has a very strong pull, even for conservatives who should know better.

The prosecutors are to be commended for taking the very difficult and unpopular step of stopping this farce now.

Michael said...

You can also bet that whatever the judge puts under seal would be very very bad for Ms. Diallo were it to become public.

Bender said...

Lesson to be learned here --

If you are in the lower class, especially if you are unsavory or have been caught in lies in the past, then you can be raped with impunity. You are fair game.

If you really are, in fact, forced to engage in sex acts without your consent, prosecutors will refuse to listen to you, they will instead attack you and victimize you a second time.

Bender said...

This accuser especially now practically has a "rape me" sign taped to her back. Now that Democrat prosecutor Cyrus Vance has branded her an untrustworthy liar, never to be believed, she can be accosted and raped with impunity. After all, who's going to believe her if she claims to have been attacked?

Shouting Thomas said...

This accuser especially now practically has a "rape me" sign taped to her back. Now that Democrat prosecutor Cyrus Vance has branded her an untrustworthy liar, never to be believed, she can be accosted and raped with impunity. After all, who's going to believe her if she claims to have been attacked?

Proceeding from this logic, we can condemn any man ever accused of rape without bothering with a trial.

Problem solved.

Carol_Herman said...

Bender, I'm not sure!

I think Diallo comes off as the victim of the system. This is not an unusual occurrence for Blacks at all.

Ken Thompson is a fantastic attorney! He's sharp. He's a graduate of NYU. He knows the city, and the Brons (where he grew up) like the back of his hand!

While women screaming rape, in general, will be told to "lay back and enjoy it." Some things just never change.

Putting the time line, back together, however, you can see that at the Sofitel, management believed her. It was the cops who lied about the "telephone" ... because the cell phone never showed up, again.

And, torturing witnesses at police stations ... and at the Manhattan DA's office? Exactly how is that gonna work out, ahead?

This story stinks. There's a big divide. And, since I'm white, I can only say I'm shocked that stupid people would still go after Black people ... as if they belonged to the Klan.

The Klan should have disappeared like Hitler.

(Hitler, for germany, was a terrible bet.) Just go look at the results. Time passed. So the reults are there, now, to be tallied.

Now, ahead? What if the evidence gets hidden under seal? You think the "white's win?" You don't think this is a disaster?

Oh, yeah. This stupidity of hating Blacks will really work towards taking out Obama. (I don't think so.) But what are horse races for?

Shouting Thomas said...

Carol, you've gone far off the tracks in your conspiracy fantasies.

Cool out.

Or, perhaps, it would be better for you to find a literary agent and cease wasting your talent for creating complex plots on the comments thread.

Shouting Thomas said...

I think that Steve Sailer has written the definitive closing to the DSK case:

Not surprisingly, DA Cyrus Vance Jr. dropped charges against former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

I must say that I feel like I've been lied to by my Hollywood thrillers. Here we have a case in which hundreds of billions of dollars and the leadership of a great power are at stake. In a movie, there would have been a superbly engineered conspiracy countered by brilliant agents on the other side.

But, as far as I can tell, every single real person involved in this story acted like a complete idiot with a time horizon of about 90 seconds to 90 minutes. I've seen shoving matches in an alley between a homeless guy and a transvestite streetwalker that involved more careful planning than this.

Carol_Herman said...

HOLD THE PRESSES!

It's NOON in NYC. The judge dismissed the charges against DSK.

BUT, he's giving Ken Thompson a shot at having the Appeals Court decide if a special prosecutor is needed to examine the evidene!

THE SEAL DOESN'T SHUT.

The saga continues ...

Cyrus Vance, when he comes out from under his desk, may think IRENE blew into his windows and hit him. (GOODY.)

Michael said...

There was no rape. This is not a case with a black victim. This is a case of a phony charge being dismissed after the state behaved in an extraordinarily contemptible manner in its handling of the accused. Because of his status, and not hers. He was made an example. Etc. But there was no rape. The villain is the accuser. There are no lessons to be drawn here about justice favoring the wealthy or the white.