Albany’s prosecution alleged lack of evidence not to prosecute former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for sexual harassment. The case refers to a complaint filed in October last year in a court in the region, according to which the Democrat had “his hand under the blouse and private parts” of former executive assistant Brittany Commisso, as well as touching her breasts. her.
“While many have an opinion on the allegations against the former governor, the Albany District Attorney is alone with the burden of proving the elements of a crime beyond any reasonable doubt,” said David Soares, county district attorney, in a statement released on Tuesday (4).
In the note, he said the complainant was credible and cooperated with the investigation, but considered, after reviewing the available evidence, that she did not have enough evidence to win a trial.
Cuomo, meanwhile, claims he has never touched anyone inappropriately and that his efforts to be a friendly boss may have been mistaken for flirting. The plaintiff’s lawyer says that, given the prosecution’s refusal, he is considering opening a civil suit against the former governor.
Forced touch is a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in prison. This is not a usual charge and can be used in cases where prosecutors cannot prove that the contact was made for sexual purposes. Thus, the prosecuting attorneys would have to show several elements of the crime, including that Cuomo’s touch was intentional and forceful.
Tuesday’s decision is the third in weeks that a district attorney has decided to end investigations against the former governor. Albany now joins Westchester and Nassau counties.
The harassment, according to the complainant, took place in December 2020, when the two were alone in the mansion that serves as the official seat of government. “What he did to me was a crime,” Commisso told US television broadcaster CBS in August.
Two months after the interview, Albany Sheriff Craig Apple filed a criminal suit in the region’s court, accusing the former governor of forced touch. The move, however, took the local prosecution by surprise, forcing it to ask that the hearing be postponed, as Apple reportedly acted unilaterally through a complaint classified by prosecutors as “potentially defective”.
Commisso’s complaint is part of 11 harassment cases filed by the New York Attorney General’s Office when Cuomo was still governor. For Attorney General Letitia James, he groped, kissed and hugged women without consent and made inappropriate comments to them. The prosecutor added that Cuomo’s office had become a toxic place that allowed harassment to occur.
Investigators collected testimony from 179 people, including whistleblowers and current and former members of the government, forming a 168-page inquiry. In one of the cases, Cuomo allegedly harassed a policewoman. According to the investigation, in an elevator, the former governor stood behind the victim and “his finger went down from her neck to her spine.” The governor is also said to have passed “her open hand from her navel to her hips, where she carried the gun”.
The denunciations caused the Democrat – until then one of the main names in the party and at the head of New York for more than a decade – to resign in August, making room for his deputy, Kathy Hochul, who became the first woman to rule the state.
In late November, the crisis hit the brother of former governor and CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. According to a finding by The New York Times, the journalist had a greater involvement than was previously known in the Democrat’s strategy to react to allegations of sexual harassment.
Chris would have tried to convince other journalists to cut back on his brother’s coverage. To investigators, however, he insisted that he never tried to manipulate the coverage or make suggestions to other reporters to benefit Andrew. He told viewers that he acted only as a brother to “listen and give advice,” urging the Democrat to tell the truth, whatever it was, and eventually to step down.
The journalist was fired by the American broadcaster in early December.
.
