Bail For Famous European Charged With Sex Crime? Fool Me Once, Shame On You...

If you’re like me, two of your last three Sunday night sports orgies have been ruined by the intrusion of real world events. First, Osama bin Laden lost the ultimate game of Call of Duty. Then last night Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and would-be president of France, was pulled off of a plane at JFK and arrested for a sex crime. And in the middle of those two world events, Mother’s Day happened.

(Note to NFL owners: this is the kind of crap that’ll be happening in the fall if you guys refuse to let people play football.)

As world events go, this is pretty big. Think about it: we’ve got the head of one of the five most powerful NGOs in the world, the leader of the Socialist party, a sex scandal, a super-fancy hotel, a maid, and an alleged escape attempt thwarted at JFK — and this has nothing to do with Bill Clinton! I mean come on, if you found out that the Lannisters were involved, would you be surprised?

And on the legal front, we’re talking about an important and respected international figure who just got denied bail.

Excuse me, I need to get my popcorn out of the microwave….

Let’s start where the WSJ Law Blog starts. How is it that this international figure was denied bail? From the Law Blog:

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Earlier Monday, Strauss-Kahn was arraigned in court in lower Manhattan and charged with two counts of criminal sexual act in the first degree, one count of attempted rape, sexual abuse in the first degree, unlawful imprisonment, sexual abuse in the third degree and forcible touching.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was remanded into court custody. His defense lawyers, Zuckerman Spaeder’s William Taylor and Brafman & Associates’ Ben Brafman, had asked for Strauss-Kahn to be released on bail, but that was denied. After the hearing, Brafman said he and his team would review the decision to see if it should be appealed.

So why wasn’t bail granted? Well, turn your mind back to the Roman Polanski situation.

Well, I hope Roman Polanski is happy, he’s screwed up “fleeing the United States to avoid sexual assault charges” for everybody.

But was the New York court painting all potentially pervy Europeans with the same bail-hopping brush? Polanski pleaded guilty and was looking at jail time. Dominique Strauss-Kahn has just been charged. Polanski is a film director who wants to make his art and drug 14-year-old girls in peace and quiet. Strauss-Kahn is an international political figure who is fighting for his career and his livelihood. I think Strauss-Kahn would have showed up for his court date. It’ll be too difficult for him to take up his rightful place at next to Eliot Spitzer on In the Arena if he’s constantly fighting extradition.

Just take a look at Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman. Brafman’s clients show up to court. The man’s represented Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Plaxico Burress, and Michael Jackson (and he went to Ohio Northern University for law school — put that in your pipe and smoke it). Michael Jackson was a functional agoraphobic who had to show up in court to talk about his penis. If Ben Brafman got MJ to come to court, I don’t think he’ll have too many problems with Strauss-Kahn.

Remember, Strauss-Kahn isn’t throwing in the towel on or over his this thing. The man says he was at dinner instead of attacking the maid.

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Look, the man’s entire career is riding on this. He’s not like Roman Polanski; he can’t just go back to making great international monetary decisions if he isn’t able to clear his name. He’s going to fight this with everything he can, and if it goes that far, he’s going to be in that courtroom right until there is a verdict.

So let the man make bail. I understand that he looks like a flight risk — what with him trying to fly away and all — but really there is nowhere he can run from this.

Police Seek Evidence From I.M.F. Chief on Sex Attack [New York Times]
Bail Denied for ‘DSK,’ Former IMF Head Sent Back Into Custody [WSJ Law Blog]
Meet Benjamin Brafman: DSK’s Celebrity Lawyer And The Man Who Defended Michael Jackson [Business Insider]
IMF Head’s Lawyers Say He Was at Restaurant During Alleged Attack on Maid [ABA Journal]