Andrew Cuomo.Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty
Former New York Gov.Andrew Cuomowill not be prosecutedon a misdemeanor sex crime chargerelated to a former aide’s claim thathe fondled her breast in the state Executive Mansion in 2020, authorities announced on Tuesday.
In a statement, Albany County District Attorney David Soares said that while his office found Cuomo’s accuser “cooperative and credible” and her story “deeply troubling,” he ultimately didn’t feel the case was strong enough to proceed.
“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. … [A]fter review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial,” Soares said.
He went on to say that “although avenues for criminal prosecution in these cases are sometimes limited, I encourage victims of workplace harassment and abuse to continue to come forward and bring these issues to light so that these important discussions can continue.”
Cuomo, 64, was first charged with forcible touching last October.
He denied the woman’s account just as he has denied similar allegations from approximately a dozen women who accused him of various forms of misconduct, including harassment or unwanted touching and kissing.
In a statementto the Associated Presson Tuesday, an attorney for the woman who said Cuomo groped her indicated there would be a future civil complaint.
Andrew Cuomo.Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
The woman, who has since identified herself publicly asBrittany Commisso, “had no control over the filing or prosecution of criminal charges. She had no authority or voice in those decision,” her lawyer told the AP.
“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,” Commisso’s lawyer said. (He did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.)
Commisso, who was one of Cuomo’s assistants, has said that he touched her breast under her shirt while in his office at the governor’s mansion in 2020.
Inan interview last yearwith CBS andTheAlbany Times Union, Commisso said it was part of a pattern of his sexual misconduct.
“To me and the other women that he did this to, oh, it was not normal,” she said then. “It was not welcomed, and it was certainly not consensual.”
Cuomo and his attorney have criticized Commisso’s story, suggesting there are various flaws in her recollection.
Cuomo’s attorney told PEOPLE on Tuesday she did not have a comment on the prosecutor’s decision.
The former three-term New York governor had been a political star in the wake of theCOVID-19pandemic butultimately resigned in disgracelast year after mounting sexual misconduct allegations and other controversies, includinghow the state tracked virus deathsin nursing homes.
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Transcripts from that probe, later released publicly, show Cuomo repeatedly denied the women’s accounts.
“It would be an act of insanity to touch a woman’s breast and make myself vulnerable to a woman for such an accusation,” he told investigators of Commisso’s story.
The Albany prosecutor’s announcement Tuesday was the third such incidentof prosecutors declining to move forwardwith cases against Cuomo related to the allegations of misconduct.
source: people.com
