New York Governor Kathy Hochul raged Friday that the Cornell University student who was allegedly gang raped by fraternity members was “failed at every turn” — as she kicked the local district attorney off the case and put state Attorney General Letitia James in charge of the investigation.
Hochul could not hide her anger at learning the accuser told investigators from the off that she was “100%” confident she’d been raped — but “shockingly” those words never made it into the police report sent to prosecutors, who then dropped the case.
“This young woman had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable,” Hochul told reporters at a press conference in Manhattan on Friday. “And then at every turn she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her.”
Hochul directed James to take over the criminal investigation by executive order this week after news of the stomach-churning rape allegations shook the nation and raised questions about how school and local officials handled the case.
The governor said she lost confidence in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten’s investigation after new reporting revealed discrepancies in what the DA said the survivor originally reported to campus police.
Van Houten said he decided against prosecuting the case in 2024 because the student’s sworn statement to Cornell University police, while disturbing, did not accuse the male students of rape.
However, a transcript of Doe’s conversation with Cornell campus police and Title IX revealed this week that she had told them. “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
“Yet shockingly. Those words never made it into the account, those words never made it to the account that the Cornell police set to prosecutors,” Hochul said.
