Coup de theatre!

That's French for "a dramatic turn." And, as a result, there's good reason to believe Dominique Strauss-Kahn is laughing. Jaws are dropping across the nation this morning as Americans learn that the alleged -- and I emphasize alleged -- rapist will probably walk. The case against him is near collapse. His Guinea-born accuser, a Manhattan hotel maid, has apparently compromised herself by, well ... lying through her teeth. I'll skip wading into the muck, but you can read the sordid details here. Suffice it to say that the "truthiness" of our Maid in Manhattan can no longer be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. That means the case is a he said-she said argument that lawyers say is now unprosecutable. And that means it's very likely DSK can soon book a first-class ticket back to his luxuriant Parisian lifestyle. This doesn't mean wrongdoing didn't occur. It just means no one can prove it did. As the lawyers sort out this mess, DSK has been released on his own recognizance.

All of this raises a larger point. I confess that like many folks, I had already conducted a summary Drumhead Trial for DSK in my head. Here was a rich, pampered White Guy with a history of treating women as sexual objects. He even looked the part with his coiffured silver hair and arrogant scowl. Our poor, defenseless, "innocent" Maid in Manhattan never stood a chance. He had to be guilty, right? And we all wanted a fairy tale ending where this French avatar for the Privileged Class was felled like Goliath. So it was easy to mentally try and convict him. ("Ah, Monsieur! Have ye any last words before ye walk the plank, sir?") Of course, such emotional thinking is exactly why due process of law and the presumption of innocence in our system of jurisprudence are vital. It applies even to DSK. Even, alas, if he gets the last laugh.