{"id":362892,"date":"2026-10-02T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362892\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:02:09","slug":"woman-in-alleged-cornell-gang-rape-case-was-failed-by-system-new-york-governor-says-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362892\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman in alleged Cornell gang-rape case was \u2018failed\u2019 by system, New York governor says | New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathy Hochul, New York\u2019s governor, said on Friday that she would \u201censure\u201d that all the facts of the alleged gang-rape<\/a> in a fraternity house at Cornell University \u201care brought into light\u201d while harshly criticizing the institution for how they handled the 2024 case.<\/p>\n

Hochul, a Democrat, said the woman in the case, was \u201cfailed\u201d by people obligated to protect her, including the police and the county prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply disturbed at Cornell University\u2019s police and how they handled this,\u201d Hochul said of the Ivy League university in Ithaca in upstate New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a rare legal development, Hochul late on Thursday announced that the state attorney general, Letitia James<\/a>, was taking over the entire case as a special prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug,\u201d Hochul said in a press conference on Friday morning alongside James.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, they will be investigated fully and fairly. That they will be seen and heard. I stand ready to lead a process guided by the facts and the law,\u201d James said. James will oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury in a process that could lead to the pressing of criminal charges.<\/p>\n

Hochul sharply criticized the investigation that began in 2024 after the woman in the case went to the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn what world would the police learn from a victim that she\u2019d been literally gang-raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house, and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney,\u201d Hochul said, of the alleged assaults.<\/p>\n

The governor also criticized what she called \u201ca gap in state law\u201d relating to claiming a sexual crime was committed when the alleged victim was voluntarily intoxicated.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul said on Thursday she was appointing James<\/a> after she \u201clost faith\u201d in the district attorney\u2019s ability to oversee the case after he decided not to prosecute the case in 2024, among other reasons.<\/p>\n

A former Cornell University student, who identifies by the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit in September alleging she was gang-raped at a fraternity in 2024, when she was 20. She said she was drugged and repeatedly raped over the course of seven hours. The case has sparked national outrage, roiled the campus and raised questions about why no criminal case was brought.<\/p>\n

Thomas Giuffra, a lawyer for Jane Doe, said his client was \u201cnot doing well\u201d amid the uproar.<\/p>\n

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn<\/a> offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis<\/a> offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect<\/a> (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org\/rcip\/internl.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kathy Hochul, New York\u2019s governor, said on Friday that she would \u201censure\u201d that all the facts of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-362892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}