Strauss-Kahn lawyers meet with prosecutor

Lawyers for French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn met with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. yesterday to tell the prosecutor and his top aides why they thought the sex case against their client should be dismissed, according to a legal source familiar with the matter.

Though a spokesman for Vance wouldn't comment on whether the district attorney was present at the about 90-minute session with defense attorneys Ben Brafman and William Taylor, one legal expert said any involvement by Vance would be a sign that the case was on a fast track toward a resolution -- either through a dismissal or plea bargain, possibly by the next court date of July 18.

"That Vance was there means they want to get rid of it," said former federal prosecutor Steven K. Frankel of Manhattan, who handles a lot of cases with Vance's office. Vance usually wouldn't be consulted until later, Frankel said.

"We had a constructive meeting, thank you, that is it," Brafman said as he left the meeting. He declined to comment further.

"The investigative process is continuing, and no decisions have been made," said Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for Vance, about the case. She wouldn't elaborate on the meeting.

The meeting followed weeks of disclosures about the weakened state of the prosecution's case because of problems with the credibility and veracity of the chief accuser against Strauss-Kahn, a 32-year-old hotel maid from Guinea who accused him of sexual assault on May 14 in the Sofitel hotel. Strauss-Kahn's attorneys have said the encounter was consensual; the accuser's lawyers said she has not wavered in her claim that the former chief of the International Monetary Fund attacked her.

Defense attorneys' attempts at dismissal of a case are common occurrences, Frankel said.

Legal experts interviewed said prosecutors had three key options in the Strauss-Kahn case: dismissal of the charges, plea bargaining down to a misdemeanor-level offense or continuing on to a trial of the original felony charges. Each option has political risks for Vance, whose office has been buffeted by some high-profile setbacks.

Defense attorney and former prosecutor Ephraim Savitt said prosecutors could move to dismiss the indictment and reframe the charges as low-level misdemeanor offenses tried before a judge without a jury.

"There is the potential for a long stalemate," said one defense attorney not involved in the case. "It is almost like a game of chicken."

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the hotel maid in the rape case is asking for a special prosecutor to pursue the case.

Kenneth Thompson asked Vance in a letter Wednesday to recuse his office from the case and appoint a special prosecutor. Thompson said he thought the prosecutor's office was behind media reports attributed to anonymous sources that the woman referred to Strauss-Kahn's wealth in a telephone call to an incarcerated friend.

A Vance spokeswoman said the request was baseless and mischaracterized the work of prosecutors. -- With AP