What’s next for the investigation into sexual assault allegations at Cornell

When New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James to take over the investigation into an alleged gang rape at a fraternity house at Cornell University, she asked for a “fresh and thorough” review of all the evidence.

And there is a lot of evidence.

Far from the two-party “he said-she said” structure of many sexual assault allegations, the Cornell case features seven men accused of wrongdoing in a civil suit filed by the woman known as Jane Doe. There are interviews with Doe, the accused men and other witnesses ; scores of texts and Snapchat posts ; secretly recorded phone calls ; and lengthy, conflicting reports from the police, district attorney and university investigators about who knew what when.

In all, it’s a far cry from the limited evidence the local prosecutor said he reviewed before deciding not to bring charges in 2024.

Putting the array of evidence together represents the primary task ahead for James, the special prosecutor tasked with leading the investigation and considering whether to bring charges. How the investigation proceeds will be closely watched by community members, university students and advocacy groups across the country.

Photo Illustration by Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images

A timeline of the Cornell gang rape allegations

“There is literally an avalanche of statements to collect in this case that apparently were not reviewed by the original prosecutor,” said Paul DerOhannesian, an Albany-based attorney and author of “Sexual Assault Trials.”

“Getting all those statements is a big task,” he said.

Mimi Rocah, former Westchester County district attorney and former federal prosecutor, likened the work ahead to “putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Hochul laid out the questions James will try to answer in a news conference on October 2.

“Attorney General James will be the one who puts a spotlight on this case and says, ‘Who knew what when?’ ‘What did they do wrong?’ ‘Why didn’t they come forward?’ and ‘How was this woman denied justice?’ and we anticipate that will come out over the right period of time,” Hochul said.

For James, the investigation faces several key challenges ahead, including the potential loss of evidence two years after the fact, questions about her potential bias, a supposed “loophole” in New York’s sexual assault law and intense pressure from the community.

The most important job of a special prosecutor, Rocah said, is “to try to conduct a fair process and really convey that to the public and be transparent at the end of the day about what you did and why you did it.”

At the news conference, James laid out her next steps as special prosecutor.

“Every New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly. That they will be seen and heard,” she said. “We will review the facts, gather evidence, interview witnesses and, if warranted, pursue prosecutions.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference today that she "will not allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug," announcing she is appointing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor over gang rape allegations at Cornell University's Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. James said it is now "an active criminal investigation" and prosecutions will be pursued "if warranted."

Much of the evidence may already exist. Notably, Cornell held its own formal Title IX investigation, the federal civil rights law banning discrimination based on gender – which includes sexual harassment and violence.

The investigation included more than 50 interviews, including with all of the men accused of wrongdoing, except one who declined to be interviewed, according to a heavily redacted 99-page document summarizing the panel’s findings. CNN has not seen the Title IX filings, which are generally confidential and restricted to the parties involved.

Separately, Cornell is reviewing its own response to the sexual assault allegations. This review, led by former US Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates, will examine how Cornell “prevents and responds to sexual harassment, sexual assault and related misconduct on campus,” the university said .

Still, James will have the opportunity to reinterview certain witnesses rather than simply relying on previous evidence.

DerOhannesian said James will have a few extra tools at her disposal in this investigation. She could try to cut a deal with some of the accused, offering leniency or immunity in exchange for their testimony. Or she could try to look for evidence of process crimes, such as obstruction of justice or lying to investigators, if the evidence allows.

Her role here as special prosecutor is not so different from how prosecutors may reexamine cases started by their predecessors.

“That is not uncommon for people in decision-making positions to have to take a look at past investigations and past decisions,” Rocah said.

With so much ahead, the investigation is likely to take a while, DerOhannesian said.

“Because of the quantity of information that has to be processed, the multiple legal questions that have to be answered for multiple individuals, I think it’s gonna take a lot of time,” he said. “That may be frustrating to the community, that it will be taking time to get these answers.”

The office has reached out to several experienced attorneys to bolster its team, CNN reported Tuesday .

The attorney general’s office, known as OAG, “has spoken with the Tompkins County District Attorney, Jane Doe’s attorney, and several candidates for outside counsel to support the investigation. The DA has agreed to cooperate, and OAG remains committed to a thorough and independent investigation guided only by the facts and the law,” a spokesperson for James said in a statement.

Once the investigation is complete, James likely will either take her findings to a grand jury or issue a report explaining why she does not recommend charges.

One challenge for James is some evidence may have been lost in the two years since the October 2024 encounter. Memories may have faded, or digital evidence could have been lost or deleted.

“There are real challenges looking at something several years after it happened,” Rocah said.

Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, said her rape kit was conducted weeks after the incident rather than immediately afterward, potentially losing some DNA evidence. He also speculated that photos and videos of the incident may have been lost or deleted due to the failures of the original investigation.

“I mean, if this was a normal investigation that was done in New York City, for example, they would have gotten search warrants,” Giuffra told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday. They would have grabbed every single one of these phones of these guys. They would have downloaded all this material.

Another challenge for James is convincing the public to trust her independence and judgment. Late last month, she posted about Doe’s case, calling her a “survivor” and declaring, “We stand with you.” Days later, at the news conference announcing her appointment as special prosecutor, she declined to comment on the post.

Andrew Miltenberg, a lawyer for one of the seven former fraternity members, on Monday called for James to recuse herself from the case, saying her statements “could reasonably be understood as accepting that the alleged conduct occurred before she assumed responsibility for determining what the evidence establishes.”

Cornell police tried to get phone records in Jane Doe’s sex assault investigation. Her lawyer says records never got to DA

Finally, any criminal charges would have to follow New York’s law defining sex crimes and lack of consent. In particular, lack of consent can result from being involuntarily “mentally incapacitated” by drugs or alcohol. But if someone voluntarily takes drugs or alcohol, they can’t be considered mentally incapacitated – an exclusion critics have called a “ loophole .”

In Doe’s case, she has said she drank alcohol and took drugs that night. She also told police she was OK with an initial encounter but said she did not consent to sexual contact later in the night, according to a six-page statement obtained by CNN.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten cited this law and Doe’s alcohol and drug use in defending his decision not to charge the accused fraternity members. However, he acknowledged he did not see all the evidence in the case before coming to that conclusion.

Giuffra said Doe’s reactions to the incident were a “textbook reaction to trauma.”

“Ms. Doe’s internal processing went from denial to shame and ultimately acceptance that she had been raped by people that she thought were her friends,” Giuffra told CNN Thursday.

This aspect of New York law will make bringing charges a “tough climb” for prosecutors, said CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

Still, investigators could bring charges here under different theories, legal experts said. Even when someone consumes drugs or alcohol, they still may not be able to consent, or they could offer consent at one time and revoke it later, DerOhannesian said.

It all depends on the specific facts of the case, Rocah said.

“It makes a case under facts like this more challenging, but not impossible,” she said.

CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.

纽约州州长凯西·霍楚任命司法部长莱蒂西亚·詹姆斯接手对康奈尔大学兄弟会宿舍发生的涉嫌轮奸案的调查时，她要求对所有证据进行“全新和彻底”的审查。

而且有很多证据。

与许多性侵指控中常见的“他说-她说”的双方对峙结构截然不同，康奈尔大学的这起案件涉及七名男子，他们被一名化名为简·多伊的女子提起民事诉讼，指控其行为不当。案件的证据包括对多伊、被告男子和其他证人的采访；大量的短信和Snapchat帖子；秘密录制的电话录音；以及警方、地方检察官和大学调查人员就谁在何时知晓了什么而作出的冗长且相互矛盾的报告。

总而言之，这与当地检察官在 2024 年决定不提起诉讼之前所审查的有限证据相去甚远。

詹姆斯作为特别检察官，肩负着领导调查并决定是否提起诉讼的重任，他面临的首要任务是整理所有证据。全国各地的社区成员、大学生和维权团体都将密切关注调查的进展。

图片由 Jason Lancaster/CNN/Getty Images 提供

康奈尔轮奸案指控时间线

“本案中需要收集的证词简直堆积如山，而这些证词显然没有被最初的检察官审查过，”奥尔巴尼的律师、著有《性侵犯审判》一书的保罗·德罗汉尼安说道。

“收集所有这些声明是一项艰巨的任务，”他说。

前威彻斯特县地方检察官兼前联邦检察官米米·罗卡将接下来的工作比作“把拼图碎片拼在一起”。

Hochul列出了James将在10月2日的新闻发布会上试图回答的问题。

“詹姆斯总检察长将把焦点放在这个案件上，他会问：‘谁在什么时候知道什么？’‘他们做错了什么？’‘为什么他们不站出来？’以及‘这位女士是如何被剥夺正义的？’我们预计，在适当的时候，真相就会水落石出。”霍楚尔说道。

对詹姆斯而言，调查面临着几个关键挑战，包括事发两年后证据可能丢失、对她潜在偏见的质疑、纽约性侵犯法中所谓的“漏洞”以及来自社区的巨大压力。

罗卡表示，特别检察官最重要的工作是“努力进行公平的程序，真正将这一点传达给公众，并在最后对你所做的一切以及你这样做的原因保持透明”。

在新闻发布会上，詹姆斯阐述了她作为特别检察官的下一步计划。

“每一位纽约市民都应该知道，当他们举报犯罪时，案件会得到全面公正的调查。他们的声音会被听到，他们的诉求会被重视，”她说道。“我们会审查事实，收集证据，询问证人，并在必要时提起诉讼。”

纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔今天在新闻发布会上表示，她“绝不允许任何人掩盖此案”，并宣布任命总检察长莱蒂西亚·詹姆斯为特别检察官，负责调查2024年康奈尔大学Chi Phi兄弟会宿舍发生的轮奸指控。詹姆斯表示，目前这是一项“积极的刑事调查”，如果“有必要”，将会提起诉讼。

许多证据可能已经存在。值得注意的是，康奈尔大学曾就第九条修正案（一项禁止基于性别歧视的联邦民权法，其中包括性骚扰和性暴力）进行过正式调查。

据一份经过大量删减的99页文件（该文件总结了调查小组的调查结果）显示，此次调查包括50多次访谈，受访者包括所有被指控有不当行为的男性，只有一人拒绝接受访谈。CNN尚未看到第九条修正案的相关文件，这些文件通常属于保密文件，仅限相关当事人查阅。

此外，康奈尔大学正在审查其对性侵指控的回应。该大学表示，这项由美国前副司法部长萨莉·Q·耶茨领导的审查将考察康奈尔大学“如何预防和应对校园内的性骚扰、性侵犯及相关不当行为”。

不过，詹姆斯仍有机会重新采访某些证人，而不是仅仅依赖先前的证据。

德罗汉尼西安表示，詹姆斯在此次调查中将拥有一些额外的工具。她可以尝试与部分被告达成认罪协议，以宽大处理或豁免权换取他们的证词。或者，如果证据允许，她也可以寻找程序犯罪的证据，例如妨碍司法公正或向调查人员撒谎。

她在这里担任特别检察官的角色，与检察官重新审查前任检察官启动的案件的方式并没有太大区别。

罗卡说：“身居决策职位的人需要回顾过去的调查和决定，这并不罕见。”

德罗汉尼西安表示，由于还有很多事情要做，调查可能需要一段时间。

他说：“由于需要处理的信息量巨大，而且要为多人解答诸多法律问题，我认为这将耗费大量时间。这可能会让社区感到沮丧，因为需要很长时间才能得到这些问题的答案。”

据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）周二报道，该办公室已联系多位经验丰富的律师以加强其团队。

总检察长办公室（简称OAG）“已与汤普金斯县地方检察官、简·多伊的律师以及几位外部律师候选人进行了沟通，以协助调查。地方检察官已同意合作，OAG将继续致力于开展彻底、独立的调查，调查将完全依据事实和法律进行，”詹姆斯的一位发言人在一份声明中表示。

调查结束后，詹姆斯可能会将调查结果提交给大陪审团，或者发布一份报告解释她为什么不建议提出指控。

詹姆斯面临的一个挑战是，自2024年10月那次遭遇发生以来的两年时间里，一些证据可能已经遗失。记忆可能已经模糊，或者数字证据可能已经丢失或被删除。

罗卡说：“事发几年后再去审视某件事，确实存在很多挑战。”

原告Doe的律师托马斯·吉弗拉表示，她的性侵取证包是在事发数周后才进行的，而非事发后立即采集，这可能导致部分DNA证据丢失。他还推测，由于最初调查的失误，事发时的照片和视频可能已经丢失或被删除。

“我的意思是，如果这是一起发生在纽约市的普通调查，他们肯定会申请搜查令，”吉弗拉周一告诉CNN的杰克·塔珀。“他们会没收这些人的每一部手机，下载所有这些资料。”

詹姆斯面临的另一项挑战是赢得公众对她独立性和判断力的信任。上个月底，她就简·多伊的案件发表了一篇帖子，称她为“幸存者”，并宣称“我们与你站在一起”。几天后，在宣布她被任命为特别检察官的新闻发布会上，她却拒绝就该帖子发表评论。

周一，七名前兄弟会成员之一的律师安德鲁·米尔滕贝格呼吁詹姆斯回避此案，称她的声明“可以合理地理解为承认所指控的行为发生在她承担确定证据所证实的内容的责任之前”。

康奈尔大学警方曾试图在简·多伊性侵案调查中获取电话记录。她的律师称，这些记录从未送达地方检察官办公室。

最后，任何刑事指控都必须遵循纽约州关于性犯罪和缺乏同意的法律定义。具体而言，因吸毒或饮酒导致“精神失常”而无法进行性行为可能构成缺乏同意。但如果某人自愿吸毒或饮酒，则不能被认定为精神失常——批评人士称这一例外为“法律漏洞”。

据约翰·多伊（John Doe）称，当晚她喝了酒并吸食了毒品。根据CNN获得的一份六页声明，她还告诉警方，她对最初的接触并不介意，但表示当晚晚些时候的性接触她并未同意。

汤普金斯县地方检察官马修·范·豪顿援引了这项法律以及被告约翰·多伊的酗酒和吸毒情况，为其不起诉涉案兄弟会成员的决定辩护。但他承认，在得出该结论之前，他并未看到案件的全部证据。

吉弗拉表示，多伊对这起事件的反应是“教科书式的创伤反应”。

“Doe女士的内心挣扎经历了从否认到羞愧，最终接受了自己被她认为是朋友的人强奸的事实，”吉弗拉周四告诉CNN。

CNN 高级法律分析师 Elie Honig 表示，纽约州法律的这一方面将使检察官提起诉讼变得“困难重重”。

不过，法律专家表示，调查人员仍可基于不同的理论提出指控。德罗汉尼西安说，即使有人吸食毒品或饮酒，他们也可能无法做出同意，或者他们可能曾经表示同意，但之后又撤回了同意。

罗卡说，这一切都取决于案件的具体事实。

“在这种情况下，案件的审理会更具挑战性，但并非不可能，”她说。

CNN的卡拉·斯坎内尔对本报道亦有贡献。