🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Brittany Commisso, one of the women who has accused former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, released a statement Tuesday expressing her disappointment after a prosecutor dropped her case.
Commisso worked as one of Cuomo's executive assistants. She said in December 2020, Cuomo reached into her blouse and fondled her without her consent while they were at the Executive Mansion in Albany, New York.
Thought Albany County District Attorney David Soares called Commisso "cooperative and credible" and said he was "deeply troubled" by the accusations, he asked a judge to dismiss the criminal complaint that was filed against Cuomo in October.
In a statement, Soares said that "after review of all the available evidence, we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial."
Commisso released her own statement in Albany's Times Union newspaper to express her feelings about the decision.
"My disappointing experience of re-victimization with the failure to prosecute a serial sexual abuser, no matter what degree the crime committed, yet again sadly highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power," she said. "When will our voices uniformly be accepted? Where do we go to have our rights vindicated? Unfortunately, this is just another example of where our criminal justice system needs to do better."
Though Soares did not go into his reasoning for why he could not pursue the charges against Cuomo in his statement, according to the Associated Press, he wrote to the judge that "statutory elements of New York law make this case impossible to prove."
The Times Union reported that Commisso said Cuomo had groomed her for months before the 2020 encounter with "sexually charged remarks" and another incident in which he allegedly touched her butt while they were taking a photo together.
One of the prosecutor's concerns with the case stemmed from Commisso allegedly saying, "You're going to get us in trouble," on the December 2020 night in question after he aggressively hugged her, according to the Times Union.
However, Commissso told the newspaper she responded that way due to being caught off-guard and fearing for her job security.
Cuomo has denied the allegation, and has had no comment to the Associated Press on the development.
Commisso said: "To every victim out there silently suffering from sexual harassment at the hands of a powerful government official, wondering what will happen if you tell the truth, please don't let what has happened to me deter you from speaking up."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
