{"id":365286,"date":"2026-10-05T23:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T23:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/365286\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T23:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T23:42:07","slug":"the-push-to-close-new-yorks-rape-loophole-law-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/365286\/","title":{"rendered":"The push to close New York’s rape loophole law"},"content":{"rendered":"

New developments continue to emerge in the investigation of a woman who has accused multiple fraternity brothers at Cornell University of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

It comes as advocates and the New York Assembly sponsor of legislation that addresses the loophole<\/a> in the state\u2019s law that prohibits the use of intoxication as a defense in sex crimes – if the victim voluntarily drinks – speak out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drugged and sexually assaulted by a colleague in 2015,\u201d said Leslie Hunt, a survivor advocate. \u201cI woke up in the hospital and immediately reported the crime to the NYPD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt recalls a painful experience in her life, and the aftermath that unfolded when she spoke up to authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea about this voluntary intoxication loophole in the law, and so the fact that I had been out drinking with my colleague worked against me because a drug couldn\u2019t be proven.\u201d<\/p>\n

In court documents in the Cornell University investigation, the woman described as \u201cJane Doe\u201d says she was supplied with drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons there wasn\u2019t a prosecution, according to the DA, it was because of the voluntary intoxication exclusion,\u201d said Democratic Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz.<\/p>\n

For the past six years, Dinowitz has pushed for a bill<\/a> that proposes closing the voluntary intoxication exclusion loophole in New York law, which would stop a defendant from using a victim\u2019s choice to drink alcohol or use drugs as a legal defense in sex crime cases.<\/p>\n

It has yet to come to the Assembly floor for a vote despite having broad support and passing the state Senate multiple times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask anybody why should there be a difference between voluntary and involuntary intoxication in terms of being able to consent in situations like this there\u2019s nobody who would think that there should be two separate rules for that,\u201d said Dinowitz.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the Cornell investigation, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has formed an \u201cAssembly working group to examine issues and perspectives surrounding New York\u2019s sexual assault\u201d laws.<\/p>\n

Dinowitz was named a member of the group. So has Assemblymember Gabriella Romero who is also an attorney with experience handling sex cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest thing is in the end; I want to create a solution and a package that centers survivors which is really meeting the moment that we\u2019re in right now,\u201d said Romero.<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal is a co-sponsor of Dinowitz\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need perhaps to get a little bit more education,\u201d said Rosenthal. \u201cPoint is, we have to protect everyone in society from sexual assault, and we must pass this bill into law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also speaking out is bill co-sponsor Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. In a statement saying in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations in the Cornell case are harrowing, and the questions about how Jane Doe was failed by the system are deeply troubling. She deserves answers, and she deserves justice. I thank Governor Hochul for acting decisively by appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. Faith in the local investigation has been lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornell University\u2019s President Michael I. Kotlikoff addressed the appointment in a video to students and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also support the governor\u2019s decision to turn the criminal investigation over to the New York attorney general,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kotlikoff says there will also be an independent review by an outside law firm into the university\u2019s handling of the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New developments continue to emerge in the investigation of a woman who has accused multiple fraternity brothers at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[116,257,9,11,10,49,12,5304,112,87,200],"class_list":["post-365286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","tag-central-ny","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-nicole-neuman","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365286","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=365286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}