Did they decline to arrest him or did he get out on bail? Some of the wording in this quote is confusing. You can’t just “hold” someone for extended periods of time without charging them.

Not being able to read the rest of the story some of this does sound like a prosecutor who’s not interested in fighting for a victim. The fact that he admitted, unless the police fucked up in a profound way that would get the admission excluded, should have made it much easier.

But I also want to point out that juries rely extremely heavily on witness identification. This is not a good thing as witness identifications are generally awful. However, the victim not being able to identify the man can be hugely problematic, especially with a juries over reliance on witness ID’s. She may have described his clothing head to toe, but if it’s generic clothing a defense attorney can have a field day.