No Sexual Assault Charges As Los Angeles DA’s Office Ends Probe – Deadline

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More than two years after it launched an investigation of actor Armie Hammer over sexual assault allegations, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said today that the actor won’t be charged.

“Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them,” Tiffiny Blacknell, Director of Communications for DA George Gascon, said in a statement today. “In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime. As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” Read her full statement below.

Los Angeles police launched an investigation in March 2021, just hours after explicit details were revealed in a virtual press conference by a woman claiming to have been assaulted by Call Me By Your Name actor in April 2017 while in a relationship with him. “He abused me mentally, emotionally and sexually,” said the woman named Effie, who did not want to give her surname. “I thought that he was going to kill me.”

The woman noted that she and the then-married Hammer were involved from 2016-20. Hammer had denied the sexual assault claims.

RELATED: Armie Hammer Says He Was Abused By A Pastor As A Child, Denies Sexual Violence Allegations

The SAG and Indie Spirit Awards nominee whose credits also include The Social Network, Rebecca and The Lone Ranger, lost some high-profile roles after news of the allegations broke. He was replaced in Taiti Waititi’s Next Goal Wins and the Broadway production of The Minutes. Months earlier, Hammer was embroiled in a scandal over social media posts attributed to him that detailed disturbing sexual fantasies.

That scandal also lost Hammer — who called the allegation “bullshit claims” — some big roles including Lionsgate’s Jennifer Lopez movie Shotgun Wedding and the Paramount+ making-of The Godfather limited series The Offer. He had joined that latter project after leaving the Julia Roberts-Sean Penn Starz drama Gaslit. He also was dropped by WME in early February 2021.

Here is the full statement from the L.A. DA’s Office spokesperson:

“Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them. In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime. As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. We know that it is hard for women to report sexual assault. Even when we cannot move forward with a prosecution, our victim service representatives will be available to those who seek our victim support services. Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Dominic Patten contributed to this report.