Cornell gang rape accuser was ‘misled’ about criminal investigation, lawyer says

ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) — The woman accusing several men of raping her at a Cornell University fraternity party was “misled” about the status of the criminal investigation in the weeks after she testified to police, her lawyer said Wednesday.

WATCH: What the Cornell case reveals about how sexual assault allegations are handled

Even though she submitted her allegations about a 2024 gang rape at Chi Phi fraternity through Cornell’s internal disciplinary process, the university police department gave her the impression that a criminal investigation was continuing, attorney Thomas Giuffra told The Associated Press.

In fact, the criminal investigation ended almost as soon as it began.

Tompkins County Attorney Matthew Van Houten, the local prosecutor, made the decision not to pursue the criminal case days after the woman gave her first substantive interviews to police.

LEARN MORE: Woman told Cornell investigators she ‘felt like bait’ during alleged gang rape

Van Houten said he asked the Cornell Police Department to relay the decision to the woman, who is referred to in court documents as Jane Doe, but never spoke personally to her or her attorney.

Giuffra said the woman was informed the criminal investigation was ongoing.

“I think she was misled. She was told that was always the case: They weren’t going to press charges, but they were still investigating,” Giuffra said. “I was involved in this from the beginning. I thought they were still investigating. It was news to me that they weren’t doing anything.”

Giuffra added that at the time, he thought investigators simply needed more time to speak with witnesses and build a case.

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“But nothing was being done and we didn’t know it,” Giuffra said.

A message seeking comment was left for Van Houten. Cornell’s media relations office, citing pending litigation, declined to comment on behalf of the university police department.

The prosecutor said in a statement last week that he was convinced no further investigation was needed after prosecutors and criminal investigators in his office reviewed a six-page summary of the woman’s account, written by a police officer.

Summary omitted key details, lawyer says

Based on that summary, Van Houten said he believed no crime had been committed and that the woman’s participation in the drug use and sexual relations was “voluntary, knowing and consensual.”

That description differs sharply from what the woman told police and university investigators, and from what she alleged in a lawsuit filed against seven Chi Phi fraternity members, Cornell and others last month.

WATCH: New details intensify scrutiny of Cornell’s handling of gang rape allegations

Among other things, Giuffra said, the six-page report omitted that the woman told investigators, “I can say with 100 percent confidence that I was raped,” that she was subjected to physical abuse and that a fraternity brother had sent a message to a group chat using a vulgar term to announce that a woman’s body was freely available.

Last week, citing investigative files it obtained, The New York Times reported that a Cornell police investigator tried to get Van Houten’s office to review additional evidence in the weeks after the alleged rape, but was rebuffed.

“At first I thought these police officers were incompetent,” Giuffra said. “It looks like they were doing the right thing. And they just got shut down.”

Giuffra said that although he and Jane Doe received death threats, he was heartened by an outpouring of support, including rallies and protests on Cornell’s campus and more than 1,000 women who emailed him to share their anger, frustration, solidarity and stories of their own assaults.

Students mobilize against sexual violence

Some Cornell students staged a sit-in in a dining hall and vowed not to spend money on campus Wednesday to protest sexual violence and the university’s handling of complaints, in the latest expression of outrage over an alleged 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house.

A handwritten sign reading “Justice for Jane Doe” — the name under which the accuser is suing — sat on an empty table in the dining room in the afternoon. Some students sat in the room without eating, while others ate lunch. Another small group sat outside, holding signs with messages such as “we are Jane Doe.”

LEARN MORE: Cornell taps former DOJ official Sally Yates to review handling of sexual assault complaints

The protests were aimed at highlighting complaints that the university is slow to respond to reports of sexual assault while being quick to protect its reputation. Among other demands, the groups want the university to revamp disciplinary procedures for handling complaints and expel or revoke the degrees of anyone involved in the alleged October 2024 sexual assault.

Jane Doe, who was a student at the time, alleges that Chi Phi members plied her with alcohol and drugs and that several sexually assaulted her. One man sent others a message inviting them to participate, according to a complaint she filed last month.

Lawyers for two of the men have denied taking part in a sexual assault. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the others or their representatives were unsuccessful. Some of the men who faced a university disciplinary hearing in 2024 told investigators the sexual activity was consensual or said they were not involved.

Sued man wants attorney general removed from office

The woman turned herself in to Cornell police in November 2024, but no criminal charges resulted. Following his trial, Van Houten said he was reopening the investigation. Days later, Gov. Kathy Hochul withdrew the case from him and appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor.

Giuffra applauded the decision, saying he was troubled by Van Houten’s plan to lead the reopened investigation and “did not think he was up to the task.” Giuffra said the prosecutor wants to take the case to a grand jury and have Jane Doe testify before the panel within two weeks.

That timeline, which leaves little time to review evidence or interview witnesses, suggests Van Houten may have tried “to dive in without really doing his best and not doing any investigation,” Giuffra said.

James did not say how long her investigation might take, but she suggested it could take months.

On Wednesday, one of the men named in Jane Doe’s lawsuit filed a motion in court asking that James be removed from the case, arguing that she showed bias by posting on social media days before her appointment: “What this young woman was forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable.”

A spokesperson for James declined to comment.

Cornell closed the Chi Phi campus chapter in 2024 and says it expelled some students and suspended others after an investigation under the federal Title IX law.

This week, Cornell administrators tapped former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates to examine how the school investigates sexual assault and sexual harassment, how the disciplinary process works, the campus police response and more.

Sisak reported from New York.