Special prosecutor takes over Cornell alleged gang rape investigation as national outrage grows
CNN
By Holly Yan, Jessie Yeung, Gloria Pazmino, Jason Carroll, CNN
(CNN) — New York’s governor chastised what she deemed a botched investigation into the alleged gang rape of a Cornell University student and vowed to take action – including changing a state law that prevents some victims from seeking justice.
Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized how Cornell police and the local district attorney handled their investigations into what happened at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.
“In what world would the police learn from a victim that she’d been literally gang raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?” she said during a news conference Friday.
“In what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?”
The governor said state Attorney General Letitia James will take over the case as a special prosecutor – a move welcomed by Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.
“I support the appointment of Attorney General James and I trust that she will examine the facts and apply the law,” Van Houten said in a statement Friday. “It has become clear that we were not provided the full picture by the university.”
Cornell initially said campus police investigated the allegations in 2024 and “shared all investigatory information with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office.” But the school later changed its statement, which now says police investigated in 2024 and “shared the victim’s sworn statement and the Snapchat screenshot” with the district attorney’s office.
The nuance is important because Cornell and the DA’s office are under intense scrutiny over what information the school shared with prosecutors and whether Doe’s complete accusations were reflected.
The case also highlighted a “loophole” in New York state’s sexual assault law, which excludes victims who willingly became intoxicated.
“If someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter whether they chose to use drugs or alcohol,” Hochul said Friday. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape. Period.”
Activists have denounced the law for years, and now, Hochul has vowed to help ensure the law changes as soon as possible.
“I support closing this loophole and will work with the New York State Legislature to accomplish this,” she said.
‘I am terribly disappointed in our university’
The case of “Jane Doe” catapulted into the national spotlight after the former student filed a civil lawsuit last month, highlighting allegations of rape by several fraternity members.
“I think I can speak for every single one of us when I say we’re absolutely ashamed of the events that happened on our campus,” student assembly president Eeshaan Chaudhuri said at a public forum Thursday night.
Some students blamed Cornell officials for not doing enough to protect Doe while others faulted university investigators and broader institutional issues, including fraternity culture.
Junior Sophia Riley Sim described the campus as being in a “mental health crisis,” with students struggling to grieve while upholding their academic responsibilities.
“I was devastated by what happened to Jane Doe two years ago, when I was a freshman, and I’m a junior now,” she said. “I cried about it then, and I am still equally devastated and pained about it now. And I am terribly disappointed in our university.”
The university has declined to confirm individual disciplinary outcomes, citing federal student privacy law. But it said university policy violations “could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion.” The Chi Phi chapter was banned from campus in 2024 and a Cornell task force addressing sexual assault issued a final report earlier this year.
Most of the public forum was off the record, so students could come forward and share freely. But some students spoke in front of reporters for a public portion of the event.
Student Jane Wang said she had also reported sexual assault to the university, and felt unsupported and let down by its Title IX investigation process.
“I’m also speaking as a fellow Jane Doe,” said Wang, a junior, adding students like herself need to know that when witnesses come forward, “somebody will listen and that a broader institution will act on it.”
Cereese Qusba, senior editor of student newspaper The Cornell Daily Sun, which first broke news of Doe’s lawsuit, told CNN the room cheered after some called for the resignation of university officials.
Qusba told CNN it feels as though the university faces a reckoning in how it grapples with cases of sexual assault on campus, saying: “I think it reminds everyone of the MeToo movement ten years ago. And this is now marking a decade since that has happened.”
“We see this across the social media and the wider community. We’ve watched it grow and become an international issue as well. What I can say is, I don’t think that the university can return to a status quo after this.”
Special prosecutor steps in
Rape allegations in the civil lawsuit – which the district attorney said he was not aware of – prompted the DA to reopen the case and announce a grand jury would review new evidence to see if charges are warranted.
But those plans changed after Hochul stepped in to announce an independent prosecutor would take over.
“New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County DA’s ability to fairly oversee it,” Hochul said Thursday.
James now has the power to investigate the incident and, if warranted, prosecute any offenses and present evidence to a grand jury.
The Tompkins County district attorney said his office did not bring criminal charges against the men involved because of Doe’s signed six-page statement to police, which did not include some of the allegations and details included in the lawsuit.
“Multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators reviewed Jane Doe’s statement and correctly determined the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime,” Van Houten told CNN earlier this week.
He also said his office had access to some Snapchat messages exchanged during the alleged assault in a group chat titled “Chi Phi Actives.” Images of one Snapchat chain obtained by CNN include a photo of Doe in a room at the fraternity house during the time she describes being assaulted.
Other evidence has also emerged this week which Van Houten says was not made available to his office, including a transcript of a November 2024 interview with campus police, in which Doe explicitly says, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
There are also new details from the university’s Title IX investigation, records of which were exclusively obtained by the New York Times and corroborated by Doe’s attorney.
CNN obtained a copy of a heavily redacted, 99-page document summarizing the key evidence included in the Cornell disciplinary panel’s findings, which supports the Times’ findings about how Doe later came to understand the night’s events as assault.
What happened after Doe reported alleged assault to police
According to the documents, Doe first reported the alleged gang rape to campus police in 2024, roughly three weeks after the October night.
At the time, a police officer “condensed” Doe’s hours-long interview into a six-page document, which “omitted” her “unequivocal statement that she had been raped,” as well as other stronger language she had used, according to the Times, citing documents it had obtained. After leaving her own handwritten corrections, Doe signed off on the final version of statement the next day, which was shared with the DA’s office along with the Snapchat messages.
Police officers had tried to contact the alleged perpetrators, with “varying degrees of success,” according to the Times, citing the documents.
At the same time, Cornell held its own formal Title IX investigation into the case, in which it held more than 50 interviews, including with six of the seven accused, according to the heavily redacted document obtained by CNN.
According to the document, at least one of the men was found to have violated the school’s policy against sexual exploitation and sexual assault, and at least one respondent was found responsible for attempted sexual exploitation, but was not found responsible for sexual assault.
The university investigation led to suspensions and expulsions for the accused students, according to Doe’s attorney, the barring of the fraternity chapter from campus and the launch of a sexual assault task force.
For the man found responsible only for attempted sexual exploitation, the Cornell panel imposed several sanctions: a “no contact order” with Jane Doe, an order to submit to the Title IX office a “reflection paper” on the circumstances he was found responsible, and an order to take a corrective class.
CNN has not seen the full Title IX filings, which are generally confidential and restricted to the parties involved.
According to the Times, citing the Title IX filings, the men accused have denied any wrongdoing, with one telling investigators that he also was “a victim of sexual misconduct” because the woman had given him oral sex when he was “too incapacitated” to consent.
Doe’s complaint alleges she was given alcohol and pressured her into snorting a substance described as ketamine, and that she was then sexually assaulted while “incapable of consent.”
According to the Times, the men’s accounts differed, contradicted each other, and were contrary to the statements given by the woman to Cornell police in 2024.
Four of the Chi Phi fraternity members acknowledged having sexual contact with the woman, but said that their interactions had been consensual. The others denied participating in sexual encounters, the Times reported.
Lawyers for three of the men accused of being involved have since issued statements denying wrongdoing. CNN is working to see if the others accused have legal representation.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, said he didn’t believe the trove of details from the Title IX investigation were ever given to Cornell police.
“I believe that the information was not, because what is contained in the proceedings is evidence of several crimes being committed with excellent supporting evidence,” Giuffra told CNN.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Isa Mudannayake, Jake Tapper, Jeff Winter, Alex Stambaugh, Danya Gainor, Chris Boyette, Rebekah Riess, Cindy Von Quednow, Avni Trivedi, Lauren Mascarenhas and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.
