Actor Armie Hammer will not be charged with sexual assault in Los Angeles County, after the District Attorney's Office told E! News it could not prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Warning: This story discusses rape and suicide.

Authorities are not moving forward with the rape allegation against Armie Hammer.

Following an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, the District Attorney's Office is not charging the Call Me By Your Name actor for the alleged 2021 assault of a woman who goes by Effie.

"Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove," Tiffiny Blacknell, Director of the Bureau of Communications for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, told E! News in a statement May 31, "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."

The statement said that the prosecutors have an "ethical responsibility" to only issue charges when the crimes can be proved "beyond a reasonable doubt."

"We know that it is hard for women to report sexual assault," it continued. "Even when we cannot move forward with a prosecution, our victim service representatives will be available to those who seek our victim support services."

The District Attorney's office spokesperson went on to cite the reasons why the case was unable to move forward.

"Due to the complexity of the relationship," Tiffiny concluded, "and inability to prove a non-consensual forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt."

Following the District Attorney's office's announcement, Hammer released a statement of his own.

"I am very grateful to the District Attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and coming to the conclusion that I have stood by this entire time, that no crime was committed," he wrote in a May 31 Instagram post. "I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared."

Hammer captioned his post, "I would like to say a very special thank you to all the people who have helped me get through this time. Onwards and upwards.

E! News has reached out to Effie and Hammer's lawyers for comment but hasn't heard back.

Back in March 2021, Effie alleged at a press conference that Hammer raped her after they met on Facebook and began a relationship in 2016. Hammer has denied the allegations, with his attorney Andrew Brettler previously labeling them as "outrageous."

At the press conference, Effie alleged that the Social Network actor "violently raped" her on April 24, 2017 for over four hours in Los Angeles.

"He repeatedly slapped my head against a wall bruising my face," Effie said, with her lawyer Gloria Allred by her side. "He also committed other acts of violence against me to which I did not consent."

Other former partners of Hammer have also spoken publicly about their relationships, including ex-girlfriend Paige Lorenze, who told E! News in 2021 that the Crisis star "slowly started easing her into BDSM-related activities in the bedroom," adding that the acts were consensual.

In September 2022, Discovery+ released the docuseries House of Hammer, in which ex Courtney Vucekovich said that she had participated in sexual acts with the 36-year-old that included biting and bondage. She described one alleged incident in particular as "very degrading and very belittling."

Hammer later addressed the sexual misconduct allegations for the first time in an interview with Air Mail in February 2023. Hammer acknowledged "one million percent" that he was emotionally abusive to his accusers, and there was an "imbalance of power" in his relationships with Vucekovich and Lorenze. He added that the women were a decade younger than him and that he was a "successful actor at the time" they were involved.

Hammer also responded to Effie's rape allegation, saying it was actually a "scene" that he claims was planned out in advance via Facebook Messenger. However, the Death on the Nile actor said he deleted the messages.

"This alleged rape was a scene that was her idea," he said. She planned all of the details out, all the way down to what Starbucks I would see her at, how I would follow her home, how her front door would be open and unlocked and I would come in, and we would engage in what is called a ‘consensual non-consent scene,' CNC."

Hammer also got candid on how the sexual misconduct allegations—which came months after his 2020 split from wife Elizabeth Chambers after 10 years of marriage—took a toll on him. He told Airmail that he attempted suicide while quarantining in the Cayman Islands a month after the first accusation.

"I just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark," he shared. "Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn't do that to my kids."

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by ALEXANDRA BELLUSCI

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