New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had “lost faith” in the local investigation into an alleged rape involving Cornell University students as she appointed a special prosecutor to take over the case.
The Democratic governor announced Thursday that she had signed an executive order naming Attorney General Letitia James to oversee the investigation. The case centers on a woman who says she was sexually assaulted 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 said.
“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued.”
Hochul’s decision followed the release of a transcript in which the alleged victim told Cornell police she was “100 percent” certain she had been raped.
According to the transcript obtained by CBS New York, the woman told a campus police investigator that she had been drinking and taking drugs on the night of the alleged attack, leaving her with gaps in her memory.
Even so, she said she could separate consensual sexual activity earlier in the evening from what she alleged happened later at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had “lost faith” in the local investigation into the alleged Cornell rape case.
She appointed Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor overseeing the case.
Asked whether she had been comfortable with the encounter at the beginning of the night, the woman—identified in court records only as Jane Doe—said: “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.”
“And then, of course, I was being hit at the same time,” she added.
Jane Doe said she could not remember the final part of the evening, which she described as the point “where I was raped.” She also said she did not know precisely how many men had sex with her.
However, when asked to characterize what occurred, she told investigators: “I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped.”
The transcript indicates that the campus police investigator questioned Doe while helping her prepare a written statement about the alleged assault.
As he asked what she had said when the men sought sex, the investigator cautioned that some questions might sound accusatory. He said he needed precise answers to determine which charges could potentially be filed.
Doe said she knocked one man’s hand away and told him she was uncomfortable. She also recalled telling another man “no” several times, or saying she was too tired to have intercourse.
“Was it ‘no’ or was it ‘eh, I’m tired?’” the investigator asked.
“I think it’s ‘I’m tired,’” the alleged victim responded.
The accuser, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, spoke with campus police on November 14. Students are shown walking past Cornell Police headquarters on Wednesday.
Doe alleged that the attack occurred late on October 19, 2024, at the Chi Phi fraternity house, pictured above. The fraternity remains suspended from Cornell’s campus.
Later on 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. It was coercion, yes,’ she replied, according to the transcript, adding that she was ‘completely and totally incapacitated.’
The transcript also shows that the investigator documented her account, read it back to the accuser and asked her to clarify or correct it, according to CBS News.
Then, on the second day of the interview, Jane Doe reviewed the revised six-page statement.
When she then went to sign it, the transcript shows, the alleged victim said: ‘I’m very confident about this.’
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said his decision not to bring charges against the seven alleged perpetrators was based on the contents of that signed 2024 statement.
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But he told CBS News on Tuesday he had never before seen the transcript showing what Jane Doe told campus police.
The District Attorney said he will now seek a copy of the transcript and follow up with Cornell police.
‘Nobody knows this information about the transcript and that gives me something to really dig into because that changes the landscape for me,’ he said.
Cornell officials, meanwhile, said its police department provided the results of the school’s investigation to the District Attorney’s Office as prosecutors reconsider whether to bring charges against the alleged rapists.
University officials have also said it agreed to undertake an independent investigation into its handling of the matter.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said his decision not to bring charges against the seven alleged perpetrators was based on the contents of Jane Doe’s signed 2024 statement
The case gained renewed attention after Jane Doe filed a civil suit on September 16.
It alleges that Doe, then 20, arrived at the fraternity house on October 19, 2024, already heavily intoxicated following a night of drinking in Ithaca.
She alleges she was pressured to take ketamine and given marijuana and high-proof alcohol before being repeatedly sexually assaulted as additional fraternity members entered the room.
The complaint alleges seven men eventually participated and that Doe became ‘completely incapacitated.’ She says the ordeal continued until around 5.45am, when she lost consciousness.
It also claims that during the assault, one fraternity member posted to a ‘Chi Phi Actives’ Snapchat group that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe.
‘Like you can walk in and whip it out,’ another member allegedly responded, according to a screenshot described in the filing.
Doe reported the allegations to Cornell University Police on November 8 after friends encouraged her to come forward, according to the lawsuit.
Cornell temporarily suspended the fraternity and seven students that day.
One of the men allegedly posted to the fraternity’s active-members Snapchat group saying that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs, referring to Doe, according to the filing, which included an image of the purported chat
The defendants have not all publicly responded to the allegations, but at least two have denied wrongdoing.
Jeremy Saland, an attorney for defendant Scott Kretzschmar, said the alleged incident ‘did not happen.’
‘At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way. Period,’ Saland said.
‘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 complaint.
‘I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use,’ Norris said. ‘I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened.’
For Doe, her attorney says the consequences have stretched far beyond the night at the center of the lawsuit.
He has claimed his client continues to suffer from anxiety, depression and sleepless nights and stopped attending Cornell following the alleged attack.
‘She is basically stalled, and her life is devoted to dealing with the trauma,’ Giuffra previously told the Daily Mail. ‘It’s like a constant, constant reminder.’
‘You could give her all the money in the world; nobody wants to have this as their story. Nobody wants to have this in their lives.’