A US prosecutor dropped sexual assault charges against former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo just before his court appearance in a case where the accumulation of testimony forced the powerful Democratic official to resign in last august.
While deeming the complainant’s testimony “credible”, Albany County Prosecutor David Soares said in a statement Tuesday that he did not have enough evidence to establish Andrew Cuomo’s guilt in court. beyond a reasonable doubt ”.
The former governor was scheduled to appear for the first time in court in Albany, the state capital on Friday, but the prosecutor has indicated he is unwilling to pursue the charge and has asked the county sheriff to withdraw his complaint.
In this case, he was accused of “forced touching” on an employee, passing his hand under her blouse to touch her chest, December 7, 2020 at his official residence in Albany.
In a matter of weeks, he is the third prosecutor to drop similar charges against the former Democratic leader.
Fall of a star
Accused for several months by former employees, the 64-year-old governor resigned on August 11, a week after the publication of a damning investigative report listing the cases of eleven women harassed or sexually assaulted.
A dizzying fall for this descendant of Italian immigrants, who ruled the country’s fourth state (around 20 million inhabitants) since 2011 and was aiming for a fourth term in 2022. His father, Mario Cuomo, had led the state from 1983 to 1994.
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when New York was the American epicenter in the spring of 2020, Andrew Cuomo had acquired national star status, with his daily press briefings.
His fall also led to that of his brother, Chris Cuomo, star reporter for CNN, dismissed at the end of November from the channel for having advised his elder in the storm of accusations of harassment and sexual assault.