Why Letitia James’ Cornell Case Appointment Is Drawing Sharp Criticism
“Seven men drugged and gang raped a 20-year-old woman.” That verdict in the alleged Cornell rape case was delivered by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has joined a chorus of others in pronouncing the guilt of Cornell students accused of raping a fellow student.Mind you, not a single witness has testified under oath publicly and not a single charge has been brought. However, guilt is now being collectively declared from the usual figures and outlets who have never been late to mob justice.Ocasio-Cortez declared, “I want to be clear that the culture of rape, sexual assault, and pedophilia is protected in elite institutions across the United States and including Cornell University in this instance. It has got to stop.”New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks at a press conference alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul after being appointed to be the special prosecutor in the Cornell 7 alleged rape case. AP Photo/Yuki IwamuraWe have been here before. Twenty years ago, Duke students were accused of gang raping a stripper at a campus party. The media quickly lionized Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong as he pandered to the media in portraying the students as personifying a racist rape culture in the United States.The problem is that, from the start, the facts did not fit the allegations and there was a total lack of forensic evidence to support the claim. Crystal Mangum later admitted that she had lied.Nifong was disbarred and Mangum, who was still not prosecuted for lying about these students, later went to jail for murder.All the politicians and pundits who declared the Duke students guilty simply shrugged and moved on to the next scandal, demanding instant, uninformed judgments.Conflicts in testimony, as there is in the Cornell case, does not mean that there was no rape. Indeed, this is a stronger case than Duke in my view. However, there is ample reason to withhold judgment until more is known.Much of what we know comes from a 101-page civil complaint filed by Doe against Cornell, fraternity-related entities, seven individual defendants and other defendants. The alleged rape occurred on the night of Oct. 19, 2024. Doe admits that she drank heavily at a sorority house and then, despite being underage, drank more at a couple of bars before, around 11 pm, going to the Chi Phi fraternity house to meet a friend. It was there that she claims to have been drugged and gang raped.The Snapchat messages sent after 1 am from the fraternity brothers are disgusting and horrifying. Frat brothers announce that there was “free” sex with a woman upstairs, and one later asked, “Shop still open?” Yet the case also includes countervailing statements from the alleged victim herself, including suggestions that the sex with the first couple of men was consensual.Friends recounted that Doe later laughed about the incident and said, “Oh my goodness, isn’t that crazy?” (Notably, some also added that they believed Doe was still traumatized by the experience and had not fully processed it).She also later told her sorority “big sister” that “You may hear some rumors about me, and unfortunately they are true.” The Chi Phi Fraternity House is seen on the Cornell University campus on, Sept. 30, 2026, in Ithaca, NY. Lone Pine Press for NY PostOn October 22 and 23, Doe exchanged messages with one of the men who expressed regret about “how things went down.” Both said that their memory of what occurred was cloudy because they were intoxicated.However, she told him “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal.” She reportedly added that she liked being with him and another man and wanted to come over and smoke more “but like leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine.”On Oct. 22, Doe did go to Cornell Health and was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases.On October 28, Doe reportedly wanted to go to the fraternity’s Halloween party, and her frat friend said she was welcome because “chi phi is your house and you are welcome here.” She responded with “thank u i really appreciate … i’ll bring my cigs tomorrow.”Later, the president of the fraternity contacted her to rescind the invitation and she responded angrily to her friend that “I knew this was going to happen. The woman will always get the short end of the stick. Yall aren’t my friends. Yall are covering your asses.”On Nov. 7, Doe did seek a rape kit test (which was not useful after the passage of so much time). The next day, she reported the alleged rape to the Cornell University Police Department.Cornell then moved quickly that day to suspend the Xi Chapter of Chi Phi and temporarily suspended the seven men later named in her civil lawsuit.In her later accounts, Doe admitted to heavy drinking and drug use. She also reportedly told investigators that she was okay with the initial sex, adding, “Yeah, as much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there … But I was pretty OK with all of this.” However, she also said “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”A poster advertising an upcoming protest for sexual assault prevention hangs on a post at Cornell University amid the Chi Phi lawsuit in Ithaca, on Oct. 1, 2026. REUTERSLegally, the extreme intoxication and drug use undermine claims of consent. While she admits that her memory was “super clouded,” it is hard to imagine anyone believing that a student in her condition was capable of giving knowing consent.However, there are obvious problems with the case, which likely contributed to the decision not to bring criminal charges or make a criminal referral. In New York, one threshold issue will focus on her voluntarily drinking to excess. Like other states, a mentally incapacitated individual cannot legally consent to sex but there is an exception for those who voluntarily consumed alcohol to the point that they became incapacitated. Roughly 20 states have the same exception — where an accuser must show that her incapacity by intoxication was involuntary due to being drugged or brought to intoxication without knowledge or consent.Faced with a prosecutor who had previously declined charges (but was reopening the case), Gov. Hochul condemned the university and played to her base. She promised her own prosecutor.She then picked the one prosecutor who surpasses Nifong in the Duke case in her reputation for putting politics ahead of prosecutorial integrity: Attorney General Letitia James.James was elected on a pledge to weaponize the legal system against President Donald Trump, promising that she would prosecute Trump without specifying any crime. She is known as one of the most political prosecutors in the country, using her office to pursue groups and individuals on the right. Former staffers recently condemned her for converting them into “Tish’s personal attorneys … targeting her political enemies.”Hochul’s appointment of James maximizes the chances of a criminal charge in the case. James has always followed the policy of the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland”: “Sentence first, verdict afterward.”Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
