The deliberation comes three days before the former Democratic governor’s response to the indictment in court.
“While we have found the plaintiff in this case to be cooperative and trustworthy, after reviewing all available evidence, we have concluded that we cannot fulfill our responsibility at trial,” the judge said in a statement.
Despite acknowledging “extreme annoyance” with the prosecution, the attorney general requested that the October complaint be dismissed and submitted.
The criminal complaint in question accused Cuomo of forcing him to have physical contact with a counsel, something the prosecutor identified as a problem, saying there was no question to pursue the case.
The complaint did not name the woman, but identified herself as Brittany Commisso, one of Cuomo’s advisers, before Cuomo resigned as New York state governor amid allegations of sexual harassment reported in August.
According to the complaint, Brittany Commisso alleged that Cuomo pulled his hand out of her jacket and grabbed her breasts when they were alone in an office at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany in late 2020.
Brittany Comiso’s testimony was included in a report, released in August by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, which concluded that Como sexually harassed 11 women.
Cuomo announced his resignation as governor a week after the release of the report, which he deemed inaccurate and biased.
“I knew, and he also knew, that what we had done was wrong and that I did not invite or encourage him to do so,” Brittany Commisso told investigators at the attorney general’s office.
Cuomo vehemently denied that he flirted with the then-assistant.
“I would have to lose my mind to do such a thing. It would be an act of madness to touch a woman’s breast and make myself vulnerable to a woman because of this accusation,” Cuomo told the team of judicial investigators in charge of the case.
In October, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, Craig Apple, filed a criminal case against Cuomo, accusing him of forced physical contact, in the Brittany Commission case.
The decision to drop the criminal case comes after two New York attorney generals separately announced that Cuomo would not face criminal charges for harassing other women.
The Long Island attorney general announced on December 23 that there would be no prosecution in a case involving a police officer from the Como Security Detachment who told state investigators that the former governor had rubbed his stomach at an event. In Belmont Park, in September 2019.
Five days later, the Westchester County District Attorney announced that Cuomo would not face charges stemming from allegations by the same agent and another woman that the former governor had kissed them on the cheek without consent.
In both cases, prosecutors said the allegations were credible but they could not press criminal charges.
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