Hochul rips DA handling of Cornell gang rape case as New York attorney general takes over probe

Outrage is widening over the alleged gang rape of a Cornell University student at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024, a case that is now drawing national attention and high-level intervention from Albany.

Governor demands answers: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is “deeply disturbed” by how Cornell police conducted the original investigation. She vowed Friday to uncover what went wrong, asking, “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?”

Attorney general takes over: New York State Attorney General Letitia James said her office has opened a criminal investigation into the allegations and is replacing the Tompkins County district attorney in overseeing the case. James said Friday morning that her office is limited in what it can share but will provide updates “as they become available.” Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten and Cornell both said they support her appointment.

The accuser’s account: Jane Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, told CNN he believes his client did not consent to any of the sexual encounters at the center of her allegations. He said she was initially “in denial” about what happened before feeling ashamed and eventually realizing she had been raped. Doe told Cornell police in 2024 she was “pretty ok” with aspects of an initial encounter but did not consent to other sexual activities later that night, according to a statement obtained by CNN from a source familiar with the investigation. In a November 2024 police interview transcript obtained by CNN affiliate WCBS, she said, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.” Prosecutors did not receive that transcript when Cornell police furnished Doe’s much briefer written statement, according to the local DA and New York’s governor.

Closing a New York law loophole: Hochul said it is time for New York to change its sexual assault law, which excludes victims who willfully became intoxicated. She vowed to help ensure the law changes as soon as possible, a shift activists and some lawmakers have long sought. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape. Period,” the governor said.

Campus backlash grows: The Cornell University chapter of the American Association of University Professors said it is “deeply disturbed by Cornell University administration’s response and communications to the community, initially in 2024 and now,” criticizing the school’s “failures.” Current and former students have also condemned the university’s handling of the case, and Cornell has canceled all social fraternity events this weekend, according to internal communications obtained by The Cornell Daily Sun. The national president of Doe’s sorority also spoke out against the alleged assault, calling it “abhorrent and inexcusable.”

Documents deepen scrutiny: Snapchat messages, a Cornell disciplinary panel’s decision and a cache of documents from the university’s formal Title IX investigation obtained by The New York Times have shed new light on what may have happened at the fraternity house, Doe’s reported frame of mind that night and how her understanding of the events changed as she processed trauma in the weeks that followed.

Cornell is facing scrutiny because the university initially said campus police investigated the allegations in 2024 and “shared all investigatory information with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office.” The school later changed its statement, saying police investigated the allegations in 2024 and “shared the victim’s sworn statement and the Snapchat screenshot” with the DA’s office.

The DA previously said his office did not bring criminal charges because of Doe’s six-page statement. He later 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.

Doe made an explicit allegation of rape in her interview that was not included in the six-page statement furnished to prosecutors, according to WCBS. Although Doe did recount being hit and feeling emotionally coerced in the statement, it did not include some stronger language or allegations she used in her interview, The New York Times reported, citing documents it obtained.

Among the documents also obtained by the Times were records showing the district attorney’s office declined to review any additional evidence gathered by campus police beyond the six-page statement signed by Doe. A Cornell police investigator spoke to a member of the district attorney’s staff on Nov. 25, 2024, about reviewing additional evidence, the Times said. By that time, university police had conducted more interviews and reviewed chat messages, according to the report.

But prosecutors did not express interest in the additional evidence because they had decided that, based on Doe’s statement, “Criminal charges would not be pursued in this case,” a Cornell police investigator said in a note documenting the call. When reached for comment, the district attorney staff member referred all questions to the district attorney, the Times reported.

Van Houten, the district attorney, told the Times by email that any additional records gathered by Cornell police were “not pertinent to our analysis because we had Jane Doe’s comprehensive account of the events.” CNN reached out to Van Houten’s office for comment Friday.

Panel findings and civil case: CNN obtained a copy of a heavily redacted, 99-page document summarizing key evidence included in a Cornell disciplinary panel’s decision. The document supports the Times’ findings about how Doe later came to understand the night’s events as assault. The panel’s decision details more than 50 interviews, including with six of the seven accused men.

The initial university investigation led to suspensions and expulsions for the accused students, according to Doe’s attorney, as well as the barring of the fraternity chapter from campus and the launch of a sexual assault task force. Four Chi Phi fraternity members acknowledged having sexual contact with Doe but said their interactions had been consensual. The others denied participating in sexual encounters, the Times reported.

Amid the renewed investigation, court documents show a Chi Phi fraternity member named as a defendant in Doe’s civil suit has been petitioning New York state courts to invalidate a university disciplinary decision that found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation.

What’s next: Cornell student groups are planning a protest on campus Monday to “hold our university responsible,” according to an Instagram post from Students for a Democratic Cornell and several other campus organizations. The case has become a test of how universities, campus police and local prosecutors coordinate in sexual assault investigations, and whether New York will close a legal gap that advocates say can leave intoxicated victims without equal protection. With the attorney general now in charge, the inquiry will face heightened scrutiny from Albany, the campus and the public.

Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.

CNN’s Holly Yan, Jessie Yeung, Gloria Pazmino, Jason Carroll, Alisha Ebrahimji and Jake Tapper contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com