The jury has reached a verdict. It will be read at 2:15 ET. I'll be offline but here's a place to discuss it.

Sounds like the jury knew yesterday as news reports today say the jurors arrived in nicer clothes this morning.

The Wall St. Journal and the New York Post are reporting the DA's office is likely to drop charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn at or before his July 18 court date, due to the accuser's credibility issues and prosecutors' doubts as to whether a crime was committed.

There are new details about the accuser's actions after the encounter and how she encountered her supervisor. The WSJ reports:[More...]

Yesterday I wrote at length on details not adding up about the recorded phone call between Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser and her boyfriend/fiance/husband in the Arizona immigration jail on May 15, the day after the encounter at the Sofitel Hotel. The call was first reported by The New York Times.

When the conversation was translated — a job completed only this Wednesday — investigators were alarmed: “She says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’ ” the official said.

The Wall St. Journal has new details on the phone call , all coming from the prosecution and law enforcement. The article was written after the writer spoke with lead prosecutor Joan Iluzzi-Orbon. The new disclosures make even less sense. [More...]

[Note: This is so long that it's likely to interest only those closely following the developing details of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case.]

One of the details not adding up in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, which I don't believe will be a case much longer, is the phone call the accuser had with her jailed friend (also described as her boyfriend or fiance) 28 hours after she reported her encounter at the Sofitel with DSK.

When the conversation was translated — a job completed only this Wednesday — investigators were alarmed: “She says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’ ” the official said.

....Suspicions of the woman’s associations arose relatively quickly: within a week of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, the authorities learned of a recorded conversation between the subject of a drug investigation and another man, who said his companion was the woman involved in the Strauss-Kahn matter, according to another law enforcement official.

Reportedly, he was arrested when attempting to obtain 400 pounds of marijuana in exchange for counterfeit designer goods from Chinatown somewhere in the Southwest. The Times reported: [More...]

Update: I think the defense caught a break when the Judge recessed the trial after the defense closing until tomorrow, forcing the prosecutors to wait to give their closing rebuttal. Now the jury gets to go home and consider the arguments of both sides equally, without the prosecution having the advantage of two bites at the apple. Even though they aren't supposed to, some may make up their minds today, and any leaning towards the defense, may be listening with a closed mind by the time the rebuttal comes tomorrow. The prosecutor's laughing during the defense closing may have backfired big time. Also, isn't it a bit disrespectful for the Court to hold trial on the 4th of July?

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Original Post

If you liked the old days of Court TV, tune in to Headline News where Vinnie Politan, Jean Casarez and Janie Velez-Mitchell are dissecting the closing arguments in the Casey Anthony trial. It's not quite like the old Court TV, it's more like Court TV on speed, with a surreal intensity. Every word is enunciated with such emphasis and varied tone inflection, you see their lips form every word. It's more like listening to sports announcers at the Superbowl than legal analysts, as they continue to hype this so-called "trial of the century." They keep talking about the passion of the prosecutor in closing, but when they play clips, in comparison to them, he's sounds like he's speaking in a monotone. Put another way, the old Court TV was like watching a golf match, while this is like watching an Xtreme Sports or snowboarding competition. [More...]

Alpha Condé , the President of Guinea addressed the Dominique-Strauss Kahn case today:

We are both [himself and Strauss-Kahn] members of the Socialist Party, the French Socialist Party is a member of the Socialist International, so I am very happy for him and I hope his sufferings will not have a lasting effect,” Condé told RFI at the African Union summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, after the latest twist in the sexual assault case.

He said his country will do what they can to help the accuser.

“Obviously, the lady is Guinean. It is the duty of the head of state to defend all Guinean citizens. We will see how we can come to her aid, because Guinea has to defend its children wherever they are. We will see how we can help her.”

A cynical person might ask whether, given that statement, she really still needs asylum in the U.S. (in the event she is prosecuted and convicted of fraud for her original application. Here's one example of such a prosecution.)

Update (7/5): The accuser has sued the New York Post for libel over the article.

Is anyone surprised by today's New York Post article alleging that Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser was a "working girl"? I opined last night,

The only remaining viable theories are: (1) It was a set-up (2) He paid her for the sex or (3) She consented, thinking she was going to paid, and got angry when he didn't offer money, didn't pay enough or refused to pay. While normally, paying for sex would be a crime, in this case, just like the rape claim, if he denied it, proving it would require believing her, and that's out of the question now.

Of course, a prostitute can be sexually assaulted and no one is saying she shouldn't be believed on that ground. [More...]

I've been waiting all day to learn the story behind the phone call with the incarcerated boyfriend of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser, and here it is.

He was in an immigration jail in Arizona, the call was recorded, it took place 28 hours after she claimed to be raped, and the DA's office finally got around to having it translated from a dialect of Fulani to English. The money quote:

When the conversation was translated — a job completed only this Wednesday — investigators were alarmed: “She says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’ ” the official said.

This case is toast. It's not illegal to have sex with a hotel maid. The only remaining viable theories are: (1) It was a set-up (2) He paid her for the sex or (3) She consented, thinking she was going to paid, and got angry when he didn't offer money, didn't pay enough or refused to pay. While normally, paying for sex would be a crime, in this case, just like the rape claim, if he denied it, proving it would require believing her, and that's out of the question now. [More...]

As expected, Dominique Strauss-Kahn's bail was modified today to a personal recognizance bond as the DA's office told the Judge about the problems with the accuser's credibility. In a letter to Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, the DA's office didn't mince words. The accuser repeatedly lied to prosecutors and investigators -- about a prior gang rape that never happened, about details of the incident with DSK, and more -- lies she later acknowledged. [More...]

The New York Times reports the Dominique Strauss-Kahn prosecution may be falling apart due to problems with the accuser's credibility. Prosecutors are going to agree to a reduction in his bail conditions on Friday -- to a personal recognizance bond without monitoring conditions -- and charges may ultimately be dropped.

The Times reports the accuser has lied repeatedly to law enforcement since reporting the sexual assault allegation. The lies weren't about the incident with DSK, but about her asylum application and possible ties to drugs and money laundering. Keep reading, you won't believe it.

She's on tape the day after the incident talking on the phone to a jail inmate accused of possessing 400 pounds of marijuana about the benefits of pursuing charges against DSK. This same man is "one of several individuals" in several states who made multiple cash deposits into her bank account totaling $100,000. She denied knowing about the deposits, saying her fiance [who apparently is the jail inmate]and friends must have made them. She's paid hundreds of dollars a month in phone bills to five different phone companies, but told investigators she only had one phone. [More...]

The defense has rested in the trial of Casey Anthony. While the trial seems to have captured the media's attention, I have not been interested in it or following it. Apparently, the state didn't put on any direct evidence the child was murdered (as opposed to the victim of an accidental drowning.) Casey Anthony didn't testify and the defense didn't call witnesses to support the theory it laid out in opening arguments that her grandfather moved or hid the child's body and that Casey's lies after the fact were the result of sexual abuse by her father and brother. [More...]

A federal judge in Virginia sentenced former mortgage executive Lee Farkas to 30 years in prison today, and ordered him to $38.5 million. He was convicted of a fraud scheme involving $2 billion.

The government, aiming to send a message to the financial industry, asked Judge Brinkema to impose the maximum 385-year sentence on Mr. Farkas. As an alternative, the government recommended a penalty of at least 50 years to ensure he will “spend the remainder of his life in prison.”

Farkas was convicted of 14 counts of securities, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud after a ten day trial in which he testified in his own defense. What did his co-conspirators get? Those who pleaded guilty and cooperated got between 3 months and 8 years.

I'm surprised they didn't also ask the judge to chop off his hands.