Man Accused In Cornell Gang Rape Suit Asks Judge To Remove Letitia James From Probe Over Her "We Stand With You" Post
A lawyer for one of the men accused in a civil rape lawsuit at Cornell University has asked a New York judge to remove Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor of the renewed criminal investigation, arguing that her own social media post shows she had already taken the accuser's side. Justice James R. Farrell was due to hear the petition Thursday in Monticello, the Associated Press reported.
The post went up on Sept. 28, on X and Facebook, with a link to a news article about the lawsuit. "What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable," James wrote. "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." Three days later Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an order naming James to run the case.
Hochul's Executive Order 64, dated Oct. 1, takes the matter away from Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who declined to prosecute in November 2024. The order says he did so "without speaking to Jane Doe," relying at least in part on her sworn statement, and that the special prosecutor's jurisdiction "will displace and supersede" his. Van Houten has defended the decision, UPI reported, saying that statement did not allege she was drugged against her will or gang-raped. After public backlash he announced he was reopening the case.
The challenge before Farrell comes from Gillio Lopes, one of seven men named in Jane Doe's suit, in an Article 78 petition filed Oct. 7. His lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, wrote that James' post "has unequivocally demonstrated a bias and presumption of guilt against the defendants" named in the suit, and asked Farrell to order Hochul to appoint a prosecutor "who is free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest or bias." Lawyers for a second man named in the suit have filed their own challenge in Tompkins County, where Cornell is located.
James' office calls the petition "procedurally defective and substantively meritless." In its filing, as the AP described it, the office argues that courts have already held the governor may appoint a special prosecutor as she sees fit, and that the petition rests on "the AG's remarks in a single social media post." Assistant Attorney General Kaitlin Vigars wrote that the claimed harms are "speculative and conclusory." James is not expected to attend the hearing.
James has not said much about the post. At the Oct. 2 news conference announcing her appointment, she declined to comment when asked about it. Hochul said she had no qualms: "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." The governor's office posted the video and transcript.
Jane Doe filed her lawsuit on Sept. 16 in New York County Supreme Court against Cornell and the men. She alleges several of them raped her at a fraternity party in October 2024, and that some pressured her into using ketamine and marijuana while she drank alcohol that left her too intoxicated to consent. The allegations are unproven, and Cornell was also named in the suit.
James is no stranger to high-profile targets. The AP noted that her office has gone after the NRA and Donald Trump, whom she once called a "con man" and "carnival barker," and that a civil investigation she led ended in Andrew Cuomo's resignation. ZeroHedge has followed the fallout around the case, including a high school student punished over a post supporting the "Cornell 7." If Farrell sides with Lopes, Hochul would have to name a different special prosecutor.