Hochul cited loss of faith in Tompkins County DA
Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, on Thursday named state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate the alleged 2024 gang-rape of a former Cornell University student at a campus fraternity, elevating the case from local prosecutors after questions surfaced about both the district attorney’s handling and the university’s own investigation.
“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued,” Hochul said in a statement. “This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated without conflict or bias, and handled independently with the rigor that this matter demands.”
Hochul said James would oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury. The governor said her decision was driven by Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten’s 2024 decision not to prosecute and “the questions raised in recent days over the Cornell police department’s investigation of the allegations,” which she said had “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the district attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time.”
The accuser, identified in court filings only by the pseudonym Jane Doe, alleged she was gang-raped at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity in 2024. She filed suit in September against seven men she said perpetrated the assault, along with the university, the fraternity and others. The lawsuit has drawn national attention and renewed scrutiny of how the Ivy League school handled the allegations.
Van Houten declined at the time of the alleged assault to bring criminal charges. This week, after CBS News reported details from a police interview transcript, Van Houten said he would reopen the investigation based on new information in the lawsuit. He told CBS he had never seen her detailed account and had relied instead on a statement written by a campus police officer and signed by the accuser. Van Houten has maintained that the woman’s first account to police did not include allegations that she was drugged, incapacitated beyond the ability to consent, or forced into sex.
Lawyers for two of the men she is suing have denied the allegations. One said his client had not touched the woman or engaged in any drug use.
Cornell has said it suspended the Chi Phi fraternity indefinitely and disciplined or expelled some students, but the university has declined to provide specifics, citing student privacy rules. Under pressure from Hochul and other politicians, the private university agreed on Wednesday to bring in outside lawyers to independently investigate how it handled the woman’s allegations.