The New York prosecutor under fire for his handling of the sexual assault case against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn suffered another blow yesterday when lawyers for the accuser asked him to leave the case and appoint a special prosecutor.
The request came even though prosecutors left in place sexual assault charges against Mr Strauss-Kahn after a two-hour meeting with his defence lawyers yesterday, pledging to further investigate a case that appeared to be falling apart.
Lawyers for Mr Strauss-Kahn said he would not plead guilty to any charges in his sexual assault case and there had been no discussion with prosecutors of a plea bargain, the New York Times reported.
As chief prosecutor, District Attorney Cyrus Vance represents the state of New York and by extension is an advocate for the accuser, a hotel maid (32). But lawyers for the woman blamed Mr Vance's office for undermining their own case by leaking damaging information about her.
"District Attorney [Cyrus] Vance, we ask in earnest that your office voluntarily recuse itself from the Strauss-Kahn case and that you appoint a special prosecutor," Kenneth Thompson, the lawyer for woman, wrote in a letter dated yesterday.
A spokeswoman for Mr Vance dismissed the request as "wholly without merit." "We strongly disagree with how the office and the work of the assistant district attorneys have been characterised," Erin Duggan, chief spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, said in a statement.
Any appointment of a special prosecutor would be made by New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo and there would have to be very clear evidence of a conflict of interest for him to do that, one legal expert said.
"I don't think there is any chance of this being successful," said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman.
The woman who replaced Mr Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF, former French finance minister Christine Lagarde, called on the media to respect the presumption of innocence for Mr Strauss-Kahn, adding she had spoken with him over the phone in a professional capacity.
Reuters