Albany County District Attorney David Soares has dropped a criminal charge against the former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of groping an aide.
"While we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial,” Soares said in a statement, quoted by AFP.
Soares said the decision to discontinue criminal prosecution is unrelated to potential civil liabilities and that he, like many New Yorkers, remains deeply troubled by allegations like those levelled at Cuomo.
The criminal complaint accused Cuomo of forcible touching, an allegation the former governor has vehemently denied.
The attorney's decision comes three days before Cuomo was due to appear in court to answer the misdemeanour charge.
Earlier, one of Cuomo's assistants, Brittany Commisso, claimed that Cuomo grabbed her breast at his mansion in Albany in late 2020. The former governor strongly denied the allegations, and his attorney Rita Glavin said that Commisso had an "evolving version" of what happened.
Last August, Attorney General Letitia James released a report which said that Cuomo had allegedly harassed 11 women. Cuomo publicly denied any wrongdoing but decided to step down, calling the report "biased".