"Even a member of the finance committee for Mr. Vance’s 2009 campaign, Gerald L. Shargel, a Manhattan defense lawyer, questioned how the case had been handled.

“What’s most curious is hearing the line prosecutors saying early on that they had a strong case, a very strong case,” Mr. Shargel said. “Obviously, they hadn’t looked very hard. I have enormous respect for Cy as a prosecutor, but this is like a series of bad dreams.”

In the weeks before that, Mr. Vance’s office did not win rape convictions against two New York police officers accused of sexually assaulting a drunken woman (the officers were found guilty of lesser charges)."

Seems they thought they had a convenient sacrifice to win back public approval. Never mind justice, let's make this man an example of what happens when you mess with women and the D.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/nyregion/collapsing-strauss-kahn-case-adds-to-doubts-on-manhattan-prosecutor.html