US prosecutors said Tuesday they were dropping a sexual harassment case against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo who was forced to quit over the allegations last year.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares said that while the complainant was “credible” his office would not be able prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“As such we have notified the court that we are declining to prosecute this matter and requesting the charges filed by the Albany County sheriff be dismissed,” he said in a statement.
Cuomo was charged in November with a misdemeanor for forcible touching, a sex crime that can carry a sentence of up to one year in prison.
It was the first to be filed since the once-powerful politician was forced to resign in August following a slew of sexual harassment allegations.
The case was brought by the sheriff’s office in Albany but it soon became unclear whether Soares would pursue the prosecution.
Cuomo, 64, had been due to answer a summons to appear in court on Friday.
But Soares now becomes the third district attorney in recent weeks to close criminal probes into Cuomo’s alleged harassment of women.
Cuomo was accused of putting his hand down the victim’s blouse and grabbing her left breast in December 2020.
His resignation came after state attorney general Letitia James issued a report, which was not criminal in nature, concluding that he sexually harassed 11 women, including former staffers.
Cuomo strenuously denied the charges and claimed he was the victim of a political vendetta.
He gained nationwide admiration in 2020 for his straight-talking daily coronavirus briefings before his spectacular fall from grace.
