Justice undone

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this summer, your daily news has been consumed by the sensational cases of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Casey Anthony. These two examples of the American criminal justice system point to the adage that while the law is blind, it need not be deaf and dumb, too.

Once considered a rising star in France’s Socialist Party and a possible contender to take on President Nicholas Sarkozy, politician, economist, and former International Monetary Fund head Strauss-Kahn’s notoriety is now as an accused rapist.

Thanks to the media, we know him as DSK, and he has become as well known as any American celebrity. On May 14, he was charged with the sexual assault and attempted rape of a housekeeper at a New York City hotel. He denied all the charges and pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury, put up $1 million bail, and was put under house arrest.

Almost six weeks later, the credibility of DSK’s accuser was called into question and his house arrest was revoked. Rumors continue to swirl that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance plans to drop all charges.

In this case, the charges touched on the most sensitive elements of class, race and money. Prosecutors bent over backward to protect the rights of an apparently weak and powerless accuser against an alleged attacker who was rich and famous.

Did prosecutors rush to judgment in their haste to bring the full force of the law down on the side of a poor victim rather than a rich accused perpetrator? Was the now infamous “perp walk” a purposeful demonstration of the equal administration of justice no matter who takes that long walk?

DSK was villainized precisely because his alleged crime was of the most serious nature: an act of violence cloaked in privilege and apparent cold-bloodedness. But almost immediately, the case against him began to unravel, not because he did not act in a depraved and indifferent manner, but because his accuser’s credibility was undermined.

It now appears that while something did happen in that hotel room, perhaps even violent or criminal in nature, it did not occur as the victim originally suggested.