A Manhattan judge is likely to formally dismiss rape charges against former IMF leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn today at the request of prosecutors who feel they no longer have a winnable case.
The hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.
Update at 11:07 a.m. ET: Dominique Strauss-Kahn has arrived at the courthouse for the hearing.
Update at 10:40 a.m. ET: The judge denied a request by the accuser in the sex assault case that a special prosecutor be appointed, the Associated Press reports.
The lawyer for the 32-year-old maid made the request after the DA's office moved to dismiss the case outright. The lawyer argued that the prosecutors' office was biased.
Judge Michael Obus issued a written ruling today less than an hour before Strauss-Kahn was due in court for a hearing where the charges against him probably will be dismissed.
Update at 10:05 a.m. ET: USA TODAY's Kevin McCoy reports that two dozen TV and video cameras and scores of reporters began arriving outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan shortly after sunrise, awaiting Strauss-Kahn's arrival.
Original post: Prosecutors, in moving for the dismissal Monday, portrayed Strauss-Kahn's accuser, a hotel maid, as the fatal weakness in their case.
She "has not been truthful on matters great and small" and has an ability to present "fiction as fact with complete conviction," and medical and DNA evidence is "simply inconclusive" as proof of a forced sexual encounter, they wrote, according to the Associated Press.
"Our grave concerns about (her) reliability make it impossible to resolve the question of what exactly happened" between the hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, 32, and the 62-year-old French politician, they wrote.
Diallo accused Strauss-Kahn of forcing her to perform oral sex on him May 14 in the Manhattan hotel where he was staying and where she worked.
Strauss-Kahn lawyers William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman said they were grateful for the prosecutors' decision and had maintained their clients innocence from the beginning.
Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, blasted prosecutors Monday.
DA Cyrus Vance "has not only turned his back on this innocent victim, but he has also turned his back on the forensic, medical and other physical evidence in this case," Thompson said.
Even a dismissal won't end all of the legal wrangling in the case. Diallo is suing Strauss-Kahn in a civil court.
Investigators are looking into another attempted rape accusation against him in France.
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