NY Governor appoints AG as special prosecutor for Cornell rape case

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared she has lost faith in the local investigation into a rape allegation at Cornell University and moved immediately to appoint Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. The Democrat governor signed an executive order on Thursday to launch this new oversight into a case where a woman claims she was gang raped by seven fraternity members.

'New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I've lost faith in the Tompkins County District Attorney's ability to fairly oversee it,' Hochul stated. She emphasized that the young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued.

This shift follows the release of a transcript showing the alleged victim told Cornell police she was '100 percent' confident she was assaulted. In an interview with a campus police investigator, she described drinking and using drugs the night of the alleged attack, noting gaps in her memory. CBS New York obtained the document that details these interactions.

Despite the confusion caused by substances, she distinguished the initial sexual activity from what happened later at Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity house. When asked if she was OK with the first encounter, Jane Doe replied: 'Yeah, as much as I can be, because again, I was super drunk when I got there... But I was pretty OK with all of this.' She added, 'And then, of course, I was being hit at the same time.'

The transcript reveals she did not remember the end of the night where she claimed she was raped and could not say exactly how many people had sex with her. Yet, when describing what happened that night, Jane Doe said: 'I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped.' Throughout the interview, the campus police investigator asked questions as she prepared a written statement.

When he began asking about her responses to the men requesting sex, the transcript shows the investigator warned her that his questions may sound accusatory but that he needed specific answers to determine which charges to file. Jane Doe told him how she swatted one man's hand away and said she was uncomfortable. She told another man 'no' a few times or stated she was too tired for sexual intercourse.

'Was it "no" or was it "eh, I'm tired?"' the investigator asked. 'I think it's "I'm tired,"' the alleged victim replied.

The accuser, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, spoke with campus police on November 14. The attack is alleged to have taken place at the Chi Phi house late on October 19, 2024. That fraternity remains suspended from Cornell's campus. Later in the interview, the police officer asked Jane Doe whether she became tired of answering the men's questions and ultimately gave in to them. 'Yes.

She was coerced," she stated in the transcript, adding that she felt "completely and totally incapacitated." The document shows an investigator wrote down her account, read it back to her, and asked for corrections before moving forward. On the second day of interviews, Jane Doe looked over a revised six-page statement. When she went to sign it, the record captures her saying, "I'm very confident about this." Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten previously explained that his choice not to charge the seven alleged perpetrators rested on that signed 2024 statement. Yet he told CBS News Tuesday he had never seen a transcript showing what Jane Doe told campus police before now. The prosecutor said he will ask for a copy of that transcript and follow up with Cornell police immediately. "Nobody knows this information about the transcript," Van Houten noted, "and that gives me something to really dig into because that changes the landscape for me." Cornell officials confirmed their police department provided investigation results to the District Attorney's Office as prosecutors reconsidered whether to bring charges. University leaders also agreed to launch an independent review of how they handled the situation. The case drew fresh attention after Jane Doe filed a civil suit on September 16. It claims she was twenty years old when she arrived at the fraternity house on October 19, 2024, already heavily intoxicated from drinking in Ithaca. She alleges peers pressured her to take ketamine and gave her marijuana plus high-proof alcohol before multiple fraternity members entered the room repeatedly assaulting her sexually. The complaint says seven men eventually participated until she lost consciousness around 5:45 am. It also claims one member posted to a 'Chi Phi Actives' Snapchat group that there was 'free p***y' upstairs referring to Doe, while another allegedly replied, "Like you can walk in and whip it out." Jane Doe told Cornell University Police on November 8 after friends urged her to come forward. The university temporarily suspended the fraternity and seven students that same day. Defendants have not all responded publicly, but at least two denied wrongdoing. Jeremy Saland, an attorney for Scott Kretzschmar, said the incident "did not happen." "At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way," Saland insisted. "Period. We look forward to confronting the plaintiff in a court of law for her selfishly false claims with both the evidence and her own words." Defendant Scott Norris separately denied participating in sexual activity or drug use while acknowledging sending one message cited in the filing.

Doe's legal team states that the fallout extends well past the single night at the heart of this lawsuit. She allegedly walked into the room where the misconduct occurred, yet she claims she was not present during the actual assault. Her attorney says she now battles anxiety and depression while enduring sleepless nights. Since the alleged attack took place, she reportedly stopped attending Cornell University entirely. Giuffra previously told the Daily Mail that her client is basically stalled in life. He added that her days are consumed by managing the trauma of what happened. 'It's like a constant, constant reminder,' he said regarding the lasting psychological impact. The lawyer also noted that money alone cannot fix this situation for anyone involved. Nobody wants to carry such a story or let it define their lives forever.