NY governor slams response to Cornell gang rape report

Governor Kathy Hochul said Cornell University police and the local district attorney's office failed to properly investigate the 2024 report, so she's tapping Attorney General Letitia James as an independent special prosecutor.(CN) — New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday slammed state prosecutors for their response to a reported gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024, announcing a new investigation and calling for legislative changes to bolster sexual assault prosecutions.Prosecutors in Ithaca, New York, have reopened a criminal investigation into the account of a woman who says she was raped by members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024. Identified as Jane Doe, the woman described an hourslong assault in a Sept. 16 lawsuit that drew widespread questions about why the men weren’t charged criminally.Cornell has faced outrage, too, over its handling of the report and subsequent Title IX investigation. Only two of the seven men involved were expelled. The fraternity was suspended.“At every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her,” Hochul said Friday.Hochul said new reporting has raised “serious concerns” about the information the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office relied upon when it decided not to pursue a case. The office, the governor said, reviewed an “incomplete account” from university police and failed to conduct its own interviews.“In what world would the police learn from a victim that she’d been literally gang raped,” Hochul said, “and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney? In what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?”In her lawsuit, Jane Doe says two fraternity members propositioned her to have a threesome while she was too drunk to consent, then pressured her into doing ketamine, a drug she had never done before. Another member then entered the room and began having sex with her without her consent, she says.The complaint includes a photo of a Snapchat group message called “Chi Phi Actives” in which a member writes there was “free pussy” upstairs, referring to the incapacitated plaintiff, after which multiple members entered the room she was in and raped her, the plaintiff says.A photograph of a Snapchat group shows a conversation between members of Cornell University's Chi Phi during an alleged 2024 gang rape. (New York Supreme Court)Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that while Jane Doe’s credibility “was never in question,” she had “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual,” and that she “did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped.”As the resurfaced accusations spawn a moment of reckoning as to how college campuses handle sexual assault, Hochul said the case has exposed a “gap in state law” regarding consent and what charges can be pursued.“If someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter whether they chose to use drugs or alcohol. Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault, or gang rape, period,” Hochul said, pledging to work with the New York Legislature to close the “loophole.”The governor also announced she is appointing Attorney General Letitia James as an independent special prosecutor to investigate the case. “She’ll follow the facts, she’ll examine the evidence and go wherever it leads. And if the evidence supports criminal charges, she will pursue them.”Hochul added: “No institution gets to protect its reputation at the expense of a young person seeking justice. No public official gets to look the other way when the system breaks down.”Joining Hochul at Friday’s announcement, James acknowledged that New Yorkers “want answers.”“I do too,” James said. “This is now an active criminal investigation.”Attorney Thomas Giuffra of Rheingold Giuffra represents Jane Doe in her civil suit. He raised concerns that the opportunity to fully investigate the criminal case was lost because of the two-year delay.“While I am not an expert in police investigations, it is obvious that the best time to get evidence is while the crime is fresh, not long after the fact. Had members of the fraternity been interviewed, and leads followed up, I believe we would have much more detail about what had occurred,” Giuffra said Monday.Hochul also said she was “deeply disturbed” with how Cornell University police handled Jane Doe’s report.The university has defended its response and says the Chi Phi fraternity chapter “remains barred from campus.”“Cornell’s process is distinct from the criminal justice system and applies university policies and standards, not criminal law,” the university said in a statement this week. In the aftermath of the report, Cornell says it established a task force to “strengthen our policies, prevention efforts, and support systems.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads