New York prosecutors say they are reopening an investigation into an alleged rape case from 2024 that involved Cornell University students.
This comes after the alleged victim, referred to as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York this month. In it, she claims multiple men drugged and brutally raped her for more than four hours at a Cornell fraternity house in October 2024.
In a nine-page statement, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced efforts are underway to reexamine the case. Once his office determines appropriate charges, the case will be presented to a grand jury, he said. Van Houten said he has assigned a senior prosecutor, with experience in sex crimes, to start preparations.
Cornell University issued a statement following news that prosecutors are taking another look at the case.
The school said it supports the decision but defended how university officials handled the case two years ago. Kyle Kimball, vice president for university relations at Cornell, said the school "conducted a thorough Title IX investigation" that lasted several months.
No criminal charges were ever filed.
But Cornell said it held a hearing where "a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days," which included testimony from all sides.
At the end of that hearing, expulsions and suspensions were issued. The statement did not specify which individuals faced those consequences.
Kimball continued in the statement: "Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false."
The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity, of which the alleged rapists were members, was banned from the campus two years ago, when details first emerged.
Doe is suing seven alleged rapists, the fraternity, Cornell University and others.
Her attorneys didn't respond to a request for comment before publication.
The case became subject to fierce social media scrutiny following Doe's lawsuit. Van Houten said people have called his office to demand answers as to why the case was never investigated. Others called to insult and threaten, he said.
Van Houten acknowledged the outrage. In defending his office, he said the civil lawsuit's claims differ from the unnamed victim's sworn statement from two years ago.
"Jane Doe's sworn statement in November of 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped. On the contrary, Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual," he wrote. "My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later."
Van Houten added that his office had never been contacted by Doe's attorneys.
"Not to inform me the original statement was inaccurate and not to ask me to reconsider our decision," he said. Van Houten said he reached out to Doe's attorneys to understand "the discrepancy."
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