Lawyers for one of the seven Cornell fraternity brothers accused of gang raping a student argued in court Thursday that Attorney General Letitia James should be booted from the case — as the Ivy League university was forced to hand over reports of sexual assault to state police.
Gillio Lopes — who filed a petition earlier this month seeking to block James’ appointment to oversee the highly publicized rape case — has argued that social media posts written by the Democrat prosecutor demonstrate a bias.
The post, referenced by Lopes’s attorneys, called the alleged drugging and gang rape of Jane Doe at a Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024 “horrific and unacceptable” and referred to her as a “survivor.”
“What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” James wrote on X on Sept. 28, days before she was appointed a special prosecutor by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you,” James wrote.
Sullivan County Supreme Court Justice James Farrell pressed state lawyers on Thursday about the governor’s choice to appoint James, despite the social media post.
“Is that a problem?” Farrell asked.
“There has to be actual prejudice,” responded Assistant Attorney General Kaitlin Vigars regarding what would warrant her disqualification from the investigation.
“You would agree with me,” the judge said, “that it’s not proper for a prosecutor to make those statements?”
When Vigars, who represents James and Hochul, did not directly answer, he pressed again: “You wouldn’t agree with me?”
Farrell ultimately did not issue a ruling, giving Lopes’s lawyers a Nov. 5 deadline to explain why the six other fraternity brothers in Jane Doe’s bombshell lawsuit did not join Lopes in challenging James’s appointment.
Farrell also questioned whether he had the authority to kick the top prosecutor off the case.
Vigars argued that Lopes can’t claim he’s been harmed by the appointment because no criminal charges have been filed in the alleged heinous gang rape.
Lopes’s attorney, Andrew Miltenberg, told reporters after the arguments that he was “confident that the other six will join, whether they want to or not,” NBC News reported.
Miltenberg added he believed Farrell could “force them to join” if the accused men were not all on board.
The lawyer added that there are “thousands of people in this state — retired judges, mediators, retired law enforcement, other district attorneys’ offices — that could handle this investigation.”
James filed a formal opposition last week in response to Lopes’s legal battle, arguing that his petition relies on claims that are “not justiciable,” NBC reported.
Winston Lee, another defendant in the case, has asked a Tompkins County court, where Cornell is located, to stop James from participating in grand jury proceedings.
A decision is expected Nov. 13 in that matter, which is sealed.
Thursday’s court hearing comes as Hochul announced that all sexual offense complaints normally probed by Cornell University Police will be handed to State Police amid heightened scrutiny over the Ivy League college’s handling of sexual assault cases.
“Every student deserves to feel safe on their campus. And when someone reports sexual assault, they deserve to be heard, treated with compassion, and know their allegations will be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated by law enforcement trained to support survivors,” Hochul said in a statement.
“That is why, at my direction, the New York State Police signed an agreement with Cornell University in which all sexual offense complaints that would normally fall under the jurisdiction of Cornell University Police will be immediately referred to State Police for criminal investigation unless otherwise requested by the individual,” she said.
“What Jane Doe described is horrifying. Survivors should be able to trust the institutions responsible for protecting them. We cannot afford to let them down,” Hochul added.
Hochul, who is up for reelection on Tuesday, previously said during a press conference announcing James’s appointment that she has confidence in her ability to prosecute the case.
“I have every confidence in our attorney general to do what she has always done: Look at the facts, examine the record, draw the proper conclusions,” Hochul said.
With Post wires
