Woody Allen cannot be prosecuted on child molestation charges as the statute of limitations on accusations by Dylan Farrow has passed.
The Connecticut prosecutor who investigated Allen more than 20 years ago in the case but did not file charges says it's now too late.
The news comes as critics accuse Dylan Farrow of cynically timing her accusations to thwart her former adoptive father's chances of winning an Oscar for his critically acclaimed film Blue Jasmine.
Former Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco said in a phone interview Sunday with The Associated Press that the statute of limitations on adopted daughter Dylan Farrow's accusations ran out at least 15 years ago
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Maco had said in 1993 that he lacked evidence to prosecute Allen but suspected the abuse did occur. He retired in 2003.
Farrow renewed allegations against Allen in an open letter to The New York Times on Saturday, saying he sexually assaulted her when she was seven years old after he and actress Mia Farrow adopted her.
Allen has denied the accusations.
Farrow's first-person account, which appeared on reporter Nicholas Kritoff's blog, marks the first time that Farrow, the daughter of actress Mia Farrow, has directly addressed the alleged sex abuse.
In gut-wrenching detail, Dylan Farrow wrote in her statement how at age seven, her adoptive father, Allen, allegedly led her by the hand to a dim attic on the second floor of their house.
'He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set,' Miss Farrow recounted. 'Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris and I’d be a star in his movies.'
She noted that to this day, she finds it hard to look at toy trains.
Farrow went on to describe how the award-winning director of 'Annie Hall' and 'Manhattan' would always find a way to touch her and do things to her she did not like, including sticking his thumb in her mouth, forcing her to get into bed with him and placing his head in her naked lap.
'I thought this was how fathers doted on their daughters. But what he did to me in the attic felt different,' she said.
Unable to keep her alleged encounters with her father secret anymore, young Dylan went to her mother, asking her if her own father used to do the same things to her that Allen was doing.
The girl's explosive allegations put an end to Farrow and Allen's relationship in 1992, setting off a legal battle in which Dylan claimed the filmmaker accused his former girlfriend of brainwashing her daughter into thinking that he had assaulted her.
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Shocking details: Miss Farrow, depicted with Allen and her mother, Mia Farrow, in 1987, described how at age 7, the filmmaker allegedly led her into the attic and sexually assaulted her as she lay on her stomach and looked at a toy train set
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Unsettling allegations: Farrow, seen left with Allen in Italy in 1991, and with her mother and sister in 1992 (right), wrote how the director would stick his thumb in her mouth, force her to get in bed with him and place his head in her naked lap
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Public break-up: Around the time this picture of Allen, Farrow, little Dylan and her brother Ronan was taken in 1992, the actress and filmmaker split following the revelations of sexual abuse
What followed next was a drawn-out process in which Dylan was dragged from one psychologist to the next, recounting her story over and over again to see if she was lying.
In the end, Allen was denied visitation rights with his children, but a Connecicut prosecutor declined to charge him, saying that while there was enough evidence for the case to potentially stand up in court, he was dropping criminal proceedings due to Dylan's fragile state.
Allen, 78, has always denied the allegations of sexual abuse. He was never charged with, or convicted of, a crime in this case.
Shorlty after Allen and Farrow's split, it was revealed that the filmmaker began an affair with his adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, whom he married in 1997.
On Saturday night, just hours after the release of his daughter's bombshell letter, a somber-looking Allen was spotted arriving at a New York Knicks game in New York with two of his other adopted daughters in tow.
In her open letter, Dylan Farrow claimed that Allen used his ‘sexual relationship’ with her stepsister, Soon-Yi, to cover up the abuse Dylan herself had allegedly suffered at his hands.
‘That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up,’ Miss Farrow wrote. ‘I was stricken with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls.’
Dylan candidly talked about the effect the alleged ordeal had on her later life, including a battle with eating disorders and her terror at being touched by men. The woman also said she began cutting herself.
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His other girls: Woody Allen exits Madison Square Garden with adopted daughters Bechet Allen and Manzie Allen after watching the New York Knicks lose to the Miami Heat
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Scandalous relationship: Dylan Farrow accused her father of using his affair with his adopted daughter Soon-Yi (right) to cover up his abuse of her; the two married in 1997
Farrow also used her soul-baring confession to attack the Hollywood establishment for 'turning a blind eye' and helping along Allen’s career in the entertainment industry.
‘Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, “who can say what happened,” to pretend that nothing was wrong,’ she said. ‘Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put him in magazines.
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Final straw: Dylan explained that what prompted her to write the open letter was seeing her adopted father receiving yet another Oscar nomination for his latest film, Blue Jasmine
‘Each time I saw my abuser’s face – on a poster, on a t-shirt, on television – I could only hide my panic until I found a place to be alone and fall apart.’
Dylan Farrow's decision to offer a first-person account of her torment has been spurred by Allen's latest nomination for an Academy Award and last month’s Golden Globes ceremony, where he received the prestigious Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.
‘It felt like a personal rebuke, like the awards and accolades were a way to tell me to shut up and go away,’ Dylan wrote.
Farrow, who described herself as a happily married woman, did not shy away from condemning the actors who have starred in her father’s films over the years, some of whom were on hand January 12 to present Allen with his Golden Globe.
‘What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?’ she asked.
Farrow's family, including her mother and stepbrother Ronan Farrow, have been unwavering in their support of her.
On the night of the Golden Globes ceremony, Ronan Farrow, Allen's would-be son, brought up his sister's alleged assault in a scathing tweet.
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Support system: Both Dylan's mother, actress and activist Mia Farrow (left), and her adopted brother Ronan Farrow (right), have stood by her claims regarding Woody Allen
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Strong words: Woody's son and ex-girlfriend weren't happy about him receiving an honour at the Golden Globes
Dylan Farrow concluded her letter with an appeal to the movie-going public to think twice before they rush to heap praise on her talented adoptive father.
‘So imagine your seven-year-old daughter being led into an attic by Woody Allen. Imagine she spends a lifetime stricken with nausea at the mention of his name. Imagine a world that celebrates her tormenter.
‘Are you imagining that? Now, what’s your favorite Woody Allen movie?’
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Shaming stars: Dylan lambasted actors like Diane Keaton and Alec Baldwin who had starred in her father's film; Keaton was on hand last month to present Allen with a lifetime achievement award
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