Governor replaces DA with New York AG Letitia James as special prosecutor in Cornell case

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been appointed as special prosecutor in the Cornell University sexual assault investigation, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday, following increasing scrutiny and uproar over how university police and the local district attorney’s office handled the matter two years ago.

Hochul said “newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation” which has in turn “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith.”

She said James, who has served as the state’s attorney general since 2019, will take over the case of a former Cornell University student who alleged in a lawsuit last month that she was raped, sexually assaulted and plied with drugs by members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024.

That student made a report to Cornell police about three weeks after the alleged incident, and the matter was investigated by the Tompkins County District Attorney, who said he found “insufficient evidence to support criminal charges” at the time. This week, District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office will look at the case again, but defended its initial decision, saying Doe’s statement to police in 2024 “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health