For the second time this year, the LA County District Attorney’s office has declined to file a sexual assault charge against actor Steven Seagal.
A woman came forward to the LAPD to allege that Seagal had sexually assaulted her in the summer of 2002.
The D.A.’s Hollywood sex crimes task force reviewed case, but determined that the statute of limitations had expired.
The D.A.’s office did not identify the alleged victim. However, attorney Lisa Bloom said that the case involves her client, former model Faviola Dadis.
In January, Dadis told the Wrap that Seagal had groped her during an audition. She said Seagal asked her to strip down to a bikini, and then wanted to do a “romantic scene” with her. She said she was uncomfortable with that.
“And then he started pinching my nipples and grabbing my crotch area with his other hand,” she told the Wrap. “I quickly yelled ‘This audition is over!’”
In a statement, Bloom said the case was not charged solely because the law requires that older cases include independent, corroborating evidence.
“We appreciate the DA’s office’s careful review of this case,” Bloom said. “Its hands are tied by this unfair law which bars the courthouse door even to young women like my client, Faviola Dadis, who is highly credible. The law fails to recognize that few minors are emotionally ready to seek justice against their rapists until many years later. Instead, it offers rapists a “get out of jail free” card if they simply pass an arbitrary time deadline. And the law seems to presume that victims are lying, creating an unfairly high evidentiary standard not required in other criminal cases. Few rapists commit their crimes in the presence of witnesses.”
The D.A.’s office also declined to charge Seagal in September, after receiving an allegation that had been investigated by the Beverly Hills Police Department. In that case, a woman alleged that he had sexually assaulted her in 1993. That case also fell outside the statute of limitations. In January, the Wrap reported that actress Regina Simons accused Seagal of raping her in 1993. Eleven other women, including actresses Portia de Rossi and Julianna Margulies, have also accused Seagal of sexual misconduct.
Seagal is a Russian citizen, and earlier this year was appointed as a special envoy to improve US-Russia relations. In 2017, he was banned from visiting Ukraine for five years, due to his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.