Bail for Dominique Strauss-Kahn Set at $1 Million After Grand Jury Indictment

Former IMF chief must also post $5 million bond and agree to 24 hour monitoring.

ByABC News
May 19, 2011, 2:58 PM

May 19, 2011— -- A New York judge set bail today at $1 million for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, just moments after a grand jury indicted the former IMF chief on seven counts of sexual assault against a hotel chamber maid.

In addition to the $1 million bail, the judge demanded that Strauss-Kahn post an additional $5 million insurance bond and that the French politician agree to house arrest and 24 hour monitoring.

As Strauss-Kahn left court for another night in jail, he blew kisses to his wife and daughter who were in the courtroom.

The grand jury, which heard testimony Wednesday from his accuser, a 32-year-old chamber maid, gave the go ahead for Strauss-Kahn to be tried for allegedly forcing the women to submit to oral sex. He is also accused of attempted rape.

THE INDICTMENT OF DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN

As the grand jury returned its indictment, Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was one of the most influential men in global finance before his arrest, shuffled into a courtroom in a gray suit to request bail.

The man who had been a contender to be the next president of France was deemed a flight risk and denied bail earlier this week. Since Monday, he has been in protective isolation and on suicide watch in a 11 foot by 13 foot cell at New York's notorious Riker's Island jail.

His lawyers initially proposed a $1 million bail package that was rejected by the court. Under a newly approved bail package, Strauss-Kahn will still pay the $1 million, but he will also be confined to a New York City residence, where he will be monitored around the clock by a private security firm and an electronic bracelet.

"We can't think of conditions more restrictive," said his lawyer William Taylor.

New York Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Obus agreed to the defense team's requests, but required the additional $5 million bond.

Taylor said Strauss-Kahn's wife, French journalist Anne Sinclair, would rent a New York City apartment where they would stay. Strauss-Kahn has already turned over his passport to the court.

Prosecutors Call Dominique Strauss-Kahn a Flight Risk

The prosecution, opposing any bail, called Strauss-Kahn an "existential flight risk." Assistant District Attorney John McConnell said the "internatiional figure's... global influence gives him access to a network of contacts throughout the world."

Typically such bail hearings occur after a suspect has been officially arraigned.

Strauss-Kahn was returned to his 11 foot by 13 foot jail cell following the hearing while bail was prepared.

"He'll be leaving Riker's tomorrow, we hope," said William Taylor, a press conference following the hearing.

Today's hearing was the second time Strauss-Kahn's attorneys appeared before a judge. In each instance they gave clues as to their plans for defending their client.

In the bail application submitted Wednesday, Strauss-Kahn's lawyers detailed his whereabouts on Saturday afternoon, between the time he is accused of assaulting the maid and his arrest that evening onboard an Air France jet at Kennedy airport.

The schedule outlined by his lawyers suggests that Strauss-Kahn's actions were not those of a man who just committed a grave sex crime. According the document, the alleged attack occurred at noon Saturday in his suite at the Sofitel Hotel. At 12:28 p.m., his lawyers say, he checked out of the hotel and joined a relative for lunch a few blocks away at 12:45 p.m.

After lunch he took a car to the airport for a flight scheduled to depart at 4:40 p.m., which had been booked a week earlier. Before boarding the plane, Strauss-Kahn called the hotel to report he had left his cell phone in his room and volunteered information about his location.

Defense attorney Benjamin Brafman told the judge at a bail hearing Monday that "the evidence, we believe, will not be consistent with a forcible encounter," suggesting that Strauss-Kahn might argue that he and the woman had consensual sex.

His accuser, a maid at New York City's Sofitel Hotel, testified in court Wednesday that "there was nothing consensual" about the assault that allegedly took place Saturday, said Jeffrey Shapiro, her personal attorney.

The maid is a national of the West African country of Guinea.

ABC News has confirmed that police collected several piece of physical evidence from the hotel room, which are being tested for DNA, including a swath of carpet on which the maid spat after allegedly being forced to perform oral sex.