The Cornell Rape Story Is Bound to Become a Circus Now. Look Who's Helming the Investigation

Oct 02, 2026 12:05 AM
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The Cornell Rape Story Is Bound to Become a Circus Now. Look Who's Helming the Investigation
AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey

The Cornell rape story is already primed to go off the rails for a variety of reasons, not least because every white liberal is jonesing for the accused to be found guilty, even though nothing has been hashed out in court. The evidence hasn’t been fully analyzed, and what was presented when this incident occurred two years ago wasn’t sufficient for authorities to press charges. And the person New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed to helm this investigation is bound to make a hash of it—it’s Attorney General Letitia James. She’s been appointed special prosecutor (via NYT):

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Gov. Kathy Hochul has named Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, to serve as special prosecutor to investigate a woman’s allegation that she was raped in a fraternity house near Cornell University’s campus in October 2024.

In a post on X on Thursday night, Ms. Hochul said that she would be assigning Ms. James, who had already begun a review of the way law enforcement handled the matter, to oversee the investigation in Tompkins County.

“New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County D.A.’s ability to fairly oversee it,” Ms. Hochul said.

She added, “The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued.”

The announcement marked a dramatic development in a case that has horrified many Americans and renewed a long-running national conversation about sexual assault on college campuses.

The authorities in Ithaca, N.Y., have faced intense backlash over how they investigated the Oct. 19, 2024, encounter between a woman known as Jane Doe and a number of men at the Chi Phi fraternity house. Facing a public outcry, Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins County district attorney, said on Monday that his office would reopen the investigation into Jane Doe’s allegations.

In a lawsuit filed last month, the woman said that when she was a 20-year-old sophomore, she was plied with alcohol and drugs and then raped by several men at the fraternity house. She reported the incident to the Cornell University Police Department several weeks later, but no criminal charges were filed.

At the heart of the criticism has been the revelation that the woman, in her statements to the police, said that she could say “with 100 percent confidence I was raped.” Mr. Van Houten has said that his office primarily reviewed a six-page report provided by Cornell police, which omitted the definitive language detailed in a transcription of her interview with investigators.

Lawyers for at least three of the seven men named in Jane Doe’s lawsuit have issued statements denying criminal wrongdoing. In hours of interviews during a university investigation in the winter of 2024, the seven men denied wrongdoing. Four said they had consensual sexual interactions with Jane Doe; three denied participating in sexual encounters altogether.

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It was a night of alleged group sex, drugs, and alcohol. This is a multi-layered investigation, and the person spearheading efforts isn’t credible, to say the least. The circus is coming. 

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