Prosecutor seeks more time in Cuomo’s groping case

ALBANY, N.Y. – A prosecutor investigating accusations that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo groped a woman asked a judge for more time to evaluate the evidence, saying the criminal complaint filed last week by the local sheriff was “potentially defective,” according to a letter released Friday.

The request from Albany Country District Attorney David Soares throws the high-profile case into further turmoil a week after Cuomo was charged with committing a misdemeanor sex crime. The one-page complaint filed in Albany City Court by a sheriff ’s office investigator accuses Cuomo of forcible touching by putting his hand under a woman’s shirt on Dec. 7.

Soares, who has said he was caught off guard by the filing, said in a letter to Judge Holly Trexler on Thursday that his office had been investigating the matter for several months.

“We were in the middle of that investigation when the Sheriff unilaterally and inexplicably filed a compliant in this court,” Soares wrote. “Unfortunately, the filings in this matter are potentially defective in that the policeofficer-complainant failed to include a sworn statement by the victim such that the People could proceed with a prosecution on these papers.”

Soares said that his office still had hundreds of hours of videotaped testimony to review and that it anticipates receiving more material.

Cuomo had been summoned to appear for an arraignment Nov.17, but Soares asked for that to be put off for 60 days.

“The purpose of this adjournment is to give my office time to continue with our independent and unbiased review,” Soares wrote.

The court granted a delay until Jan. 7, 2022, a spokesperson for Soares said in an email.

The complaint did not name the woman, but she has identified herself as Brittany Commisso, who worked as one of Cuomo’s executive assistants before he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations in August.