Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ decision comes three days before the Democratic ex-governor was due to answer the misdemeanor charge in court….reports Asian Lite News
Former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo will not be prosecuted in the criminal case involving allegations that he groped a former aide in the Executive Mansion in 2020, Albany’s top prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ decision comes three days before the Democratic ex-governor was due to answer the misdemeanor charge in court.
The announcement came on the heels of recent decisions by district attorneys in Nassau and Westchester Counties not to bring charges against Mr. Cuomo on other sexual misconduct allegations, the New York Times reported.
And it brought to an end the only criminal charge thus far related to a blistering report from the state attorney general that led to his resignation in August, the report added.
While the Albany district attorney said he was “deeply troubled” by allegations against Cuomo made by the former aide, Brittany Commisso, his statement underscored the difficulties of building a criminal case out of them.
“While many have an opinion regarding the allegations against the former governor, the Albany County D.A.’s Office is the only one who has a burden to prove the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” David Soares, the Albany County district attorney, said in a statement. “While we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial.”
In December last year, American TV journalist Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN in the wake of revelations that he had helped his brother, Andrew Cuomo, while he faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment, doing so in ways of which CNN management had not previously been aware of and breaching the traditional ethics of journalism.