The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office declined to file charges Friday against Murray Miller, a writer for HBO’s “Girls” who actress Aurora Perrineau accused of sexually assaulting her in 2011, when she was underage.
The D.A.’s office said it investigated the possibility of charging Murray with one of two crimes: rape, specifically with an unconscious victim, and statutory rape.
Prosecutors said the three-year statute of limitations has expired on statutory rape, and declined to prosecute on the other rape charge, citing “inconsistencies and the delay in reporting.”
“[T]here are inconsistencies which cannot be overcome,” the DA’s office said in a declination of charge document.
Attorneys for Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Perrineau, who has appeared in Jennifer Lawrence’s “Passengers” and is the daughter of “Lost” actor Harold Perrineau, filed a report in November 2017. At the time, TheWrap obtained the results of a polygraph test Perrineau said she passed in September in which she detailed her accusations against Murray, who was also a producer on the Fox animated comedies “King of the Hill” and “American Dad.”
An attorney for Perrineau, Alan Jackson, told TheWrap on Friday that his client’s account has been consistent all along.
“There’s never been an inconsistency in regards to Aurora’s statements and her recitation of the facts about what happened,” he said. “All I can maintain is what my client has maintained from the very beginning. There was no issue as to Aurora’s credibility.”
He declined to say if Perrineau might bring a civil suit against Miller.
Miller’s attorney, Matthew Walerstein, said in November that Miller “categorically and vehemently denies Ms. Perrineau’s outrageous claims” and said his legal team had “gathered overwhelming evidence directly contradicting these false and offensive claims.”
The case drew widespread attention in part because “Girls” showrunners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner stood by Miller. “While our first instinct is to listen to every woman’s story, our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year,” Dunham said through a spokesperson. The statement was cosigned by Konner.
Dunham quickly apologized, saying she was “absolutely wrong” for accusing Perrineau of submitting a false report.
“Every woman who comes forward deserves to be heard, fully and completely, and our relationship to the accused should not be part of the calculation anyone makes when examining her case,” Dunham tweeted.
Dunham and Konner did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
Perrineau initially believed the encounter with Miller took place in 2012, but later learned from text messages obtained by the LAPD that it actually occurred in late 2011, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap.