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ENTERTAINMENT-US-ASSAULT-SEAGAL
Sexual assault case against Steven Seagal dropped
LOS ANGELES, Dec 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Hollywood action star Steven Seagal
will not face prosecution after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting
her when she was 17, prosecutors said Friday.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said time had run out to
pursue the case brought by a Dutch model who alleges she was groped in a
hotel room in 2002.
Prosecutors did not name the alleged victim, but lawyer Lisa Bloom
identified her as Dutch model Faviola Dadis.
Dadis, who didn’t come forward until several years after the alleged
assault, accuses Seagal of attacking her during what she thought was an
audition in the W Hotel in Beverly Hills.
She claims Seagal slipped his hand underneath her clothing, fondled her
breasts and groped her crotch.
She is one of several women who have come forward with allegations of
sexual assault or harassment against the 66-year-old “Under Siege” star. He
has denied all claims of misconduct.
In paperwork released Friday, a prosecutor said the case was referred for
further investigation which did not yield evidence “sufficient to meet the
requirements of state law involving the statute of limitations.”
“Therefore, the case is declined due to the expiration of the statute of
limitations,” it said.
The time limit for prosecution of sexual offenses ranges from six years to
three in California, depending on the seriousness of the allegations.
Bloom released a statement thanking the district attorney for a “careful
review” but saying prosecutors’ hands had been tied by “this unfair law which
bars the courthouse door even to young women like my client, Faviola Dadis,
who is highly credible.”
She said her client was a minor at the time of the incident but that
California law still requires she have independent evidence that clearly
corroborates her claims.
“The law fails to recognize that few minors are emotionally ready to seek
justice against their rapists until many years later,” she added.
“Instead, it offers rapists a ‘get out of jail free’ card if they simply
pass an arbitrary time deadline. And the law seems to presume that victims
are lying, creating an unfairly high evidentiary standard not required in
other criminal cases. Few rapists commit their crimes in the presence of
witnesses.”
Prosecutors had declined earlier this year to file a case against Seagal
involving an alleged sexual assault in 1993, citing the statute of
limitations.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0941 hrs