Morgenthau backs successor on rape case

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. got some key support Thursday in the furor over his office's handling of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case when his predecessor, Robert Morgenthau, said he was confident Vance "will make a principled decision whether or not to proceed with the case."

In a two-page statement, Morgenthau, 92, now in private law practice, said Vance's handling of the case so far has indicated that the traditional values of the office "to seek justice over everything else" and to find the truth were still "alive and well."

Morgenthau's statement, which was sent to some reporters, came after a week in which Vance and his staff had been criticized for their handling of the Strauss-Kahn case. Critics have said Vance moved too quickly in charging the French politician and former head of the International Monetary Fund on the basis of an accuser whose credibility was soon called into question. Vance and police have said the accuser was credible in describing the alleged assault of May 14 at the Sofitel Hotel. Vance's staff is reviewing the case to decide if it should be dismissed or reduced in severity.

Some of Vance's staffers who had worked with Morgenthau in his 35-year career as the city's top prosecutor privately called him to complain about the public and media criticism being levied against the office, said a legal source who didn't want to be named.

Vance had recently met his mentor at Morgenthau's uptown law office and talked about the issues in the Strauss-Kahn case. Neither Vance nor Morgenthau would talk Thursday about what was discussed.

Morgenthau said, "We sought justice in every case . . . in my opinion the Manhattan district attorney and his staff upheld this proud tradition through their conduct in the past week."

Prominent Manhattan defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt said of the statement: "I think it is appropriate because Vance has been getting a lot of bad press for not good reasons."