Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), the IMF head who was arrested on Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting and attempting to forcibly rape a maid in his hotel room, pleaded at his arraignment yesterday that his international stature made him eminently worthy of bail. But New York City Judge Melissa Jackson sided with prosecutors who countered that it is precisely his stature that made him such a serious and likely flight risk: as the accused Frenchman himself might say, touché.
Reports are that the judge found the fact that he was arrested on a flight headed to France (with whom the U.S. has no extradition treaty) particularly persuasive.
But it could not have helped his case when prosecutors warned that, if granted bail, DSK might flee there “just like Roman Polanski“. Polanski of course is the internationally renowned film director who flouted rape charges in the U.S. by blithely living as a fugitive in France.
Accordingly, Judge Jackson ruled that DSK should be remanded at New York’s dreaded Rikers Island Prison without bail pending trial.
However, even though I asserted in my original commentary that he is not deserving of any leniency, I disagree with this ruling.
Not least because I’m mindful that Polanski’s flight from justice was 33 years ago when electronic monitoring devices were still the stuff of science fiction. By contrast, there are all kinds of devices available today to prevent such flights. This is why I think it would have sufficed to set a high, cash only bail (like the $1 million DSK offered to pay), confiscate his passport, and require him to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.
At any rate, with prosecutors indicating that they’re investigating allegations that DSK assaulted other maids in this same hotel, bail might be the least of his worries.
Not to mention that, even if he wins bail on appeal, he would probably be arrested upon arrival in France on a similar sexual complaint. Because, as indicated above, this arrest has emboldened other DSK conquests/victims to come forward. Most notably, the French journalist/author Tristane Banon, whose allegations I delineated in my original commentary, filed a criminal complaint against him yesterday.
Talk about comeuppance. Or is this piling on…?
Apropos of which, did you see that gratuitously choreographed “perp walk” the NYPD forced DSK to make? It has become de rigueur for all high-profile suspects of course – with everyone from O.J. Simpson to Bernie Madoff and Lindsay Lohan being members of this perp walk hall of shame.
More to the point, though, even if he gets off on all charges, this will be the defining image of his life … especially in France, where it is being condemned – without any hint of irony – as a violent raping of his charming and seductive character. But outrage in France at DSK being made to look guilty until proven innocent would have far greater resonance in the U.S. if only it were tempered with a little compassion for the poor, defenseless woman he is alleged to have assaulted….
Related commentaries:
The arrest of IMF head DSK
Arrest of Roman Polanski…