MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
Ailsa Chang of member station WNYC was in the courtroom today.
AILSA CHANG: Outside the courthouse, his defense lawyer, William Taylor, treated the hearing as one major step that will lead in inexorably to a full dismissal of all the charges against his client.
WILLIAM TAYLOR: I want to remind everybody that it was just six weeks ago that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was in Rikers Island and was charged in an indictment that had the full force of the people behind it.
CHANG: In past statements, prosecutors claimed the alleged victim had a compelling and unwavering story. Now, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance says his office had to backpedal when it found out the alleged victim lied to investigators.
CY VANCE: As prosecutors, our duty is to do what is right in every case without fear or favor wherever that leads. The disclosures we made that led to today's proceedings reflect that principle.
CHANG: Authorities claim they found Strauss-Kahn's DNA on the woman's uniform, but defense lawyers have suggested any sexual encounter between them was consensual. The woman's lawyer, Ken Thompson, says there's evidence she sustained injuries after Strauss-Kahn allegedly grabbed her breasts and threw her to the floor.
KEN THOMPSON: When she went to the hospital later that day, the nurses who examined her saw the bruises on her vagina that were caused by Dominique Strauss's hand.
CHANG: And Thompson said Strauss-Kahn ripped the housekeeper's stockings. She then ran to the door, he said, and spit the semen inside her mouth on the hotel room walls. Thompson accused prosecutors of leaking information to the media to discredit his client. Even if she was untruthful in some instances, he says the physical evidence can't possibly support a consensual sexual encounter.
THOMPSON: It is a fact that the victim here made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean she's not a rape victim.
CHANG: For NPR News, I'm Ailsa Chang in New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
