Whew! Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Thursday naming Attorney General Letitia James special prosecutor in the alleged 2024 gang rape at a Cornell fraternity. That takes the case out of the hands of the local district attorney and puts it with one of the most recognizable legal names in the state.
As we previously reported, former Cornell student, identified as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit late last month alleging she was drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven former and current members of the Chi Phi fraternity. Her allegations didn’t start with that lawsuit, though. They go back to 2024, and she says she spoke up at the time.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said charges weren’t filed because a six-page report from campus police didn’t include allegations that she was drugged against her will or gang raped. However, her attorneys aren’t buying that version of events, and they’ve called the original investigation inadequate.
The New York Times reported she told a campus police officer she could say with 100 percent certainty she was raped, and that the line never made it into the report sent to the DA.
Van Houten has also admitted a lot on the record. He told ABC News he relied on Cornell Police’s work and that his office never independently investigated the allegations. In other words, the DA took the campus cops’ paperwork and ran with it.
Hochul wasn’t having it, saying the new information “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith” in the DA’s ability to handle the case.
At a packed Friday press conference, the governor didn’t hold back. A visibly outraged Hochul said the accuser was failed by the people obligated to protect her, including campus police and the prosecutor, and she took shots at the state’s rape laws too. Then she handed the mic to Tish. James told reporters this is now an active criminal investigation and promised it would be full and fair.
James is saying all the right things so far. She said she’s “ready to lead a process New Yorkers can trust,” guided by the facts and the law. Her office isn’t only looking at the fraternity and the original handling of the case. James said her team will also examine how Cornell handled the allegations and whether the school can update its protocols and better protect students, especially survivors of sexual assault.
She has the power to go all the way: investigate, prosecute any offenses that come out of it if warranted, and present evidence to a grand jury.
Hochul made clear who she’s thinking about. “The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued,” she said.
Doe’s legal team is relieved. Her attorney said he and his client had “zero confidence in this district attorney’s ability to prosecute this case,” and he was about to write the governor asking for exactly this move.
Cornell is saying it’s on board too. The Ivy League school agreed to an independent investigation into how it handled the allegations, and students have held a public hearing to air their concerns about the university’s response.
As of right now, nobody’s been convicted of anything, and the allegations still have to be proven. But for the first time in two years, this case is getting the scrutiny it should have had from day one.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned.