[ad_1]
Brittany Commisso, the former state staffer who accused Andrew Cuomo of groping her inside the Executive Mansion, blasted the Albany County district attorney’s decision to drop criminal charges against the now-ex-governor on Tuesday.
“I think it’s deterring women from coming forward,” Commisso told The Post about the DA’s choice not to pursue the case.
Commisso, 33, said the DA’s choice means Cuomo, and potentially other alleged sexual abusers, will not face repercussions for bad behavior.
“I don’t think that it’s teaching anyone anything,” she charged. “It’s not showing or proving a good message.”
Commisso’s allegations led to a misdemeanor criminal complaint being filed against the former governor in October.
Cuomo was due to be arraigned in court on Friday afternoon.
But Albany County DA David Soares announced Tuesday he had asked the court to dismiss the charges, explaining that his office wouldn’t have been able to prove the allegations at trial.
“While many have an opinion regarding the allegations against the former Governor, the Albany County DA’s Office is the only one who has a burden to prove the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” Soares said in a statement.
Though prosecutors found Commisso “cooperative and credible,” Soares said that “after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial.”
Commisso said she ultimately had to accept the DA’s decision but that “It’s disappointing.”
Her attorney Brian Premo said Commisso would be looking into pursuing civil action.
“In this case my client had no control over the filing or prosecution of criminal charges. She had no authority or voice in those decisions. The only thing she has any power over is her resolution to continue to speak the truth and seek justice in an appropriate civil action, which she will do in due course,” Premo told The Post.
The DA’s office’s decision not to prosecute “is unrelated to any possible civil liability,” Soares said in his statement.
Karen Hinton — a former press aide to Cuomo who alleged the governor once gave her an overly long and intimate hug in a hotel in December 2000 — noted that, “Sexual harassment cases rarely have hard evidence when the victim and the harasser are alone.”
“A civil charge may await him but this behavior will never stop until consequences are real,” Hinton said.
Attorney Mariann Wang, who represents two other Cuomo accusers, Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis, said her clients were “disappointed” in the DA’s decision but not surprised.
“Unfortunately, our penal laws and system frequently do not properly punish the acts of so many abusive men in power,” Wang said in a statement.
Famed women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred, the attorney representing Susan Iannucci — who claimed Cuomo kissed her cheek without permission during a press conference — said she didn’t think other alleged victims of sexual harassement should be deterred from coming forward.
“Governor Cuomo has paid a very significant price for his misconduct, because he was forced to resign as Governor, because so many accusers came forward to tell their truth. Because of their courage he had to give up an extremely powerful position, and what happened to him sends a message to others in power, that if they prey on women, that their victims may refuse to be silenced, and that they will also face serious consequences for their sexual harassment and misconduct against women,” she said.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
[ad_2]