NEW YORK (AP) ? Legal experts say the woman who has accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault may have hurt her own case by lying to prosecutors about her background and what she did in the moments after the suspected attack.
Prosecutors in New York City revealed Friday that the 32-year-old woman’s fabrications included falsely claiming she fled Strauss-Kahn’s suite into a hallway and waited for a supervisor.
The criminal charges still stand, but prosecutors agreed to a defense request that Strauss-Kahn be freed immediately from house arrest.
Former Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein says rape cases are “nearly impossible” to try when prosecutors learn that an alleged victim has lied to them. But she also says the woman’s transgressions don’t mean her story is false.
