Consent is Strauss-Kahn's likely defence, but the battle will be ugly

[steve2470]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/18/strauss-kahn-defence-likely-consent

As Dominique Strauss-Kahn continues to contemplate the vagaries of fate from his prison cell on Rikers Island, legal experts have begun to amass on either side of what promises to be a long and potentially ugly court battle.

Teams of lawyers for the prosecution and defence are starting to muster their arguments, dispatching investigators around the globe. The cases they compile over the next few days and weeks are likely to set the tone for any future trial.

The prosecution side is led by the Manhattan district attorney's office and its special victims bureau, one of the oldest units in the US to deal with rape and other sex crimes. Closely advised by the New York police, it put together the charges against Strauss-Kahn, which include two counts of committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment.

The charge sheet accuses the IMF chief of having locked a maid in his room at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on Saturday, after which he grabbed her chest without consent, attempted to strip her and make further sexual contact with her.