{"id":363068,"date":"2026-10-02T18:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363068\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T18:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:42:10","slug":"i-want-the-truth-ny-governor-appoints-prosecutor-in-cornell-rape-case-sexual-assault-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363068\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I want the truth\u2019: NY governor appoints prosecutor in Cornell rape case | Sexual Assault News"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Governor Kathy Hochul says local authorities failed to properly investigate the 2024 allegations.<\/p>\n

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed state Attorney General Letitia James<\/a> as a special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang rape at Cornell University, saying newly released information had undermined her confidence in the local prosecutor\u2019s handling of the case.<\/p>\n

In a news conference on Friday, Hochul said that the woman who reported the alleged assault had been failed by institutions responsible for protecting her, including Cornell University Police and the Tompkins County district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 1 itemend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cIn what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?\u201d Hochul asked at the news conference. \u201cAnd I want the truth. I think every parent in this state, every New Yorker wants the truth in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul signed an executive order on Thursday requiring the attorney general to investigate the alleged October 2024 assault. If warranted, evidence will be presented to a grand jury and the case prosecuted.<\/p>\n

The order states the Tompkins County district attorney declined to prosecute the case in November 2024 without speaking to Jane Doe and relied, at least in part, on information from a Cornell police statement that omitted her assertion that she had been sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n

The appointment of James means the state attorney general\u2019s office, rather than the county district attorney, will now control the criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

\"ITHACA,The New York state attorney general has announced a review of the university\u2019s initial response to allegations by a former Cornell student that she was raped at a campus fraternity in 2024 [File: Spencer Platt\/AFP]Questions over the 2024 investigation<\/p>\n

Prosecutors initially closed the case without criminal charges in 2024. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the investigation on Monday, after Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit accusing seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of sexually assaulting her.<\/p>\n

Van Houten has defended his original decision, saying in a September 28 statement that prosecutors reviewed a six-page sworn statement the woman gave Cornell police in November 2024.<\/p>\n

He said the statement did not allege that she had been drugged against her will, and described her participation in sexual conduct as voluntary and consensual. He said multiple prosecutors and investigators reviewed the statement and concluded that, as presented, the facts did not establish a crime under New York law.<\/p>\n

The governor, however, said the full account given to police was not conveyed to prosecutors. She cited reports that Jane Doe told investigators she was \u201c100% confident\u201d she had been raped.<\/p>\n

Cornell has said its police department provided prosecutors with the evidence it had gathered, including a Snapchat screenshot, and that the university separately investigated the allegations through its disciplinary process. Cornell said sanctions imposed after that process included expulsions and suspensions.<\/p>\n

Cornell has also said it is conducting an independent review of how it handled the allegations.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s consent law under scrutiny<\/p>\n

The Cornell case has renewed debate over New York\u2019s definition of incapacity to consent. Under current state law, a person is considered \u201cmentally incapacitated\u201d when drugs or alcohol are given to someone without consent.<\/p>\n

A state bill<\/a> introduced in June would extend the provision to cases in which a victim voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs but became so intoxicated that they were temporarily unable to control their conduct, if the accused knew or reasonably should have known of the victim\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n

The legislation has gained renewed attention following the Cornell allegations. Lawmakers said on Thursday that the case highlighted what they described as a gap in the state\u2019s current law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter whether they chose to use drugs or alcohol,\u201d Hochul said at Friday\u2019s news conference. \u201cVoluntary intoxication is not a licence for sexual assault or gang rape, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsey Boylan, a New York City Council candidate and the first woman to accuse former Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment publicly, said Hochul should use the moment to push for broader legislative change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect to see her follow through with not just supporting the independent investigation, but also changing the state laws,\u201d Boylan said. \u201cThat is what I\u2019m expecting her to do now, and I think that is what every survivor is expecting her to do now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Governor Kathy Hochul says local authorities failed to properly investigate the 2024 allegations. New York Governor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[419,67,745,9,24,55,54,12,56,3019,901,2272],"class_list":["post-363068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-courts","tag-education","tag-investigation","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-sexual-assault","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363068","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=363068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}