New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Thursday that she no longer had confidence in the district attorney managing the Cornell University sexual assault case and decided to bring in a special prosecutor to take over his responsibilities.
Van Houten claims first police report lacked evidence
She reported what happened to campus police approximately three weeks after the incident occurred.
“Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University’s campus in October 2024,” Hochul stated. A former student, referred to as “Jane Doe,” claims she was “gangraped” at the Chi Phi fraternity located on Cornell’s Ithaca, New York campus on October 19, 2024. She was already intoxicated upon arrival and was administered ketamine before and throughout the alleged assault, according to her account. Van Houten, who launched a fresh criminal investigation following new details uncovered in the lawsuit, stated that the woman’s first police report made no mention of being “drugged against her will or gang raped.”
Following this, James released a statement, saying: “Every New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly. Governor Hochul named New York Attorney General Letitia James to serve as a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation. The Governor has entrusted my office with this investigation, and we do not take that responsibility lightly. The case has captured national attention following a civil lawsuit filed last month against the school and seven current and former fraternity members from the university.
