Sex crime charge against Andrew Cuomo 'potentially defective,' prosecutors say

The Albany County Sheriff's Office's sex crime case against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is "potentially defective," local prosecutors said.

The Albany County Sheriff's Office's sex crime case against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is "potentially defective," local prosecutors said, as a judge delayed Cuomo's first court appearance to early next year.

In a letter sent Thursday to Judge Holly Trexler that was obtained by ABC News, Albany County District Attorney David Soares charged that the sheriff's office "unilaterally and inexplicably" filed a complaint charging Cuomo with misdemeanor forcible touching while prosecutors "were in the middle" of a monthslong investigation.

The district attorney's letter portrayed the complaint as a rush job that did not include a sworn statement from the accuser.

"Unfortunately the filings in this matter are potentially defective in that the police-officer-complainant failed to include a sworn statement by the victim such that the People could proceed with a prosecution on these papers," the letter stated. "What was included with the complaint was a portion of a transcript of the victim's statement given in a separate proceeding, but that portion excluded an oath, and, even more troubling, excluded other portions of her testimony where she described the very same acts described in the complaint."