Strauss-Kahn in court to make new plea for release on bail
Source: Agencies |
May 20, 2011, Friday
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DOMINIQUE Strauss-Kahn was bidding to get out of one of America's most notorious jails yesterday, hours after the French politician resigned as chief of the International Monetary Fund following his arrest on sexual assault charges.
Strauss-Kahn returned to a Manhattan courthouse to again ask for bail on charges he sexually assaulted a hotel maid - a move certain to face vigorous opposition by prosecutors. He has been behind bars on New York's Rikers Island - though segregated from most prisoners - since Monday.
Late on Wednesday, Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the IMF.
In a letter released by its executive board, he denied the allegations but said he felt compelled to resign with "great sadness" because he was thinking of his family and also wanted to protect the IMF.
In court papers filed by his defense team on Wednesday, Strauss-Kahn said he had surrendered his passport and wouldn't flee the country.
His attorneys proposed posting US$1 million cash bail and confining him to the home of his daughter, Camille, a Columbia University graduate student, 24 hours a day with electronic monitoring.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, has no criminal record, is "a loving husband and father," and is highly regarded as a diplomat, politician, lawyer, economist and professor, his attorneys said.
They had proposed similar conditions at an earlier bail hearing but added the promise of house arrest on Wednesday. A judge denied him bail on Monday.
Investigators have revisited the penthouse hotel room to cut out a piece of carpet in a painstaking search for DNA evidence, law enforcement officials said.
New York detectives and prosecutors believe the carpet in the hotel room may contain Strauss-Kahn's semen, spat out after an episode of forced oral sex, officials said.
One of the officials said DNA testing was being "fast-tracked" but that the results could still be a few days away.
The maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea, told police Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to remove her underwear before she broke free and fled the room.
Strauss-Kahn went from his US$3,000-a-night hotel suite to an isolated cell block at Rikers normally reserved for patients with contagious diseases. Kept in protective custody and on a suicide watch, authorities said he ate his meals alone in a single cell and was escorted everywhere by prison guards.
Defense lawyers can raise the issue of bail as often as they like. Such attempts can succeed if a judge is persuaded that new information reduces the perceived risk that the person won't come back to court if released.
Manhattan prosecutors didn't immediately comment on the new bail application.
Another hearing has been scheduled for today, the deadline for prosecutors to bring an indictment, agree to a preliminary hearing or release him.
In addition to examining the Sofitel Hotel suite for further potential DNA evidence, investigators were looking at the maid's keycard to determine whether she used it to enter the room, and how long she was there, officials said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly declined to comment on the details of the evidence-gathering.
He said the detectives investigating the case found the maid's story believable.
"Obviously, the credibility of the complainant is a factor in cases of this nature," Kelly said. "One of the things they're trained to look for, and what was reported to me early on, was that the complainant was credible."
One of Strauss-Kahn's attorneys, Benjamin Brafman, said at his client's arraignment that the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter."
That led to speculation the defense would argue that sex was consensual.
Meanwhile, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF.
A Reuters poll of economists showed 32 out of 56 think Lagarde is most likely to succeed him, and diplomats in Europe and Washington said she had backing from France, Germany and Britain - the three biggest European economies.
Strauss-Kahn returned to a Manhattan courthouse to again ask for bail on charges he sexually assaulted a hotel maid - a move certain to face vigorous opposition by prosecutors. He has been behind bars on New York's Rikers Island - though segregated from most prisoners - since Monday.
Late on Wednesday, Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the IMF.
In a letter released by its executive board, he denied the allegations but said he felt compelled to resign with "great sadness" because he was thinking of his family and also wanted to protect the IMF.
In court papers filed by his defense team on Wednesday, Strauss-Kahn said he had surrendered his passport and wouldn't flee the country.
His attorneys proposed posting US$1 million cash bail and confining him to the home of his daughter, Camille, a Columbia University graduate student, 24 hours a day with electronic monitoring.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, has no criminal record, is "a loving husband and father," and is highly regarded as a diplomat, politician, lawyer, economist and professor, his attorneys said.
They had proposed similar conditions at an earlier bail hearing but added the promise of house arrest on Wednesday. A judge denied him bail on Monday.
Investigators have revisited the penthouse hotel room to cut out a piece of carpet in a painstaking search for DNA evidence, law enforcement officials said.
New York detectives and prosecutors believe the carpet in the hotel room may contain Strauss-Kahn's semen, spat out after an episode of forced oral sex, officials said.
One of the officials said DNA testing was being "fast-tracked" but that the results could still be a few days away.
The maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea, told police Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to remove her underwear before she broke free and fled the room.
Strauss-Kahn went from his US$3,000-a-night hotel suite to an isolated cell block at Rikers normally reserved for patients with contagious diseases. Kept in protective custody and on a suicide watch, authorities said he ate his meals alone in a single cell and was escorted everywhere by prison guards.
Defense lawyers can raise the issue of bail as often as they like. Such attempts can succeed if a judge is persuaded that new information reduces the perceived risk that the person won't come back to court if released.
Manhattan prosecutors didn't immediately comment on the new bail application.
Another hearing has been scheduled for today, the deadline for prosecutors to bring an indictment, agree to a preliminary hearing or release him.
In addition to examining the Sofitel Hotel suite for further potential DNA evidence, investigators were looking at the maid's keycard to determine whether she used it to enter the room, and how long she was there, officials said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly declined to comment on the details of the evidence-gathering.
He said the detectives investigating the case found the maid's story believable.
"Obviously, the credibility of the complainant is a factor in cases of this nature," Kelly said. "One of the things they're trained to look for, and what was reported to me early on, was that the complainant was credible."
One of Strauss-Kahn's attorneys, Benjamin Brafman, said at his client's arraignment that the forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter."
That led to speculation the defense would argue that sex was consensual.
Meanwhile, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF.
A Reuters poll of economists showed 32 out of 56 think Lagarde is most likely to succeed him, and diplomats in Europe and Washington said she had backing from France, Germany and Britain - the three biggest European economies.
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