Letitia James named special prosecutor for alleged gang rape at Cornell | new York

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she was appointing Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, as special prosecutor to investigate allegations of gang rape at Cornell University.

“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that all the facts will be investigated and justice will be served,” Hochul said in a statement. “This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated, free of conflict and bias, and handled independently with the rigor this matter demands.”

In his statement, Hochul said Tompkins County Prosecutor Matthew Van Houten’s decision not to pursue charges in the 2024 case, and questions raised in recent days about the Cornell Police Department’s investigation into the allegations, have “undermined my confidence, and that of the public, in the prosecutor’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time.”

Hochul said James would oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury.

The former Cornell University student who alleges she was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024 filed a lawsuit in September, in a case that sparked national outrage, upended the Ivy League campus and raised questions about why no criminal case has been filed.

Van Houten had declined at the time of the alleged assault to file criminal charges, but said this week he would reopen the investigation based on new information in the woman’s lawsuit, which identifies her only by the pseudonym Jane Doe.

He argued the woman’s initial testimony to police did not contain allegations she was drugged, incapable of consent or forced to have sex. After CBS News revealed details of the police interview transcript this week, he told the network that he had never seen his detailed account and instead relied on a statement written by a campus police officer and signed by the accuser.

She is suing seven men she says carried out the assault, along with the university, fraternity and others.

Lawyers for two of the men she is suing have denied committing sexual assault. One said his client did not touch the woman or use drugs.

Cornell said it had suspended the Chi Phi fraternity indefinitely and disciplined or expelled some students, but the university declined to provide details, citing student confidentiality rules.

Under pressure from the public and politicians including Hochul, Cornell, a private university, agreed Wednesday to bring in outside lawyers to independently investigate how it handled the woman’s allegations.