October 08, 2026
Cornell Chi Phi Case: Accuser Says She Was 'Misled,' DA Stripped of Probe, Yates Tapped for Review
Headline card by The Night Desk
What happened
ITHACA, N.Y. — The woman at the center of the Cornell University gang-rape case says she was "misled" about the criminal investigation, her lawyer told the Associated Press this week — a probe that, according to her attorney, ended almost as soon as it began with the local district attorney declining to prosecute.
The case, which began with Jane Doe's report to Cornell police in November 2024 and a September 2026 civil lawsuit against seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, Cornell University, and other defendants, has now exploded into one of the highest-profile campus cases in the country.
The DA loses the case
After the lawsuit, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said he was reopening the criminal investigation. Days later, Gov. Kathy Hochul took the case away from him and appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor, saying she had lost confidence in the local handling of the case.
Hochul signed an executive order empowering James with criminal authority to investigate the allegations, present to a grand jury, and ultimately bring charges if warranted.
Doe's attorney, Thomas Giuffra, applauded the move, telling reporters he was troubled by Van Houten's plan for conducting the reopened investigation — a two-week timeline to a grand jury that Giuffra suggested may have been designed "to go take a dive."
One accused man wants James removed
On Wednesday, one of the men named in Jane Doe's lawsuit filed a court petition seeking James' removal from the case, arguing she showed bias by posting on social media a few days before her appointment: "What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable."
A spokesperson for James declined to comment.
Cornell brings in Sally Yates
Separately, Cornell's Board of Trustees has appointed former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to lead an independent review of the university's handling of sexual-assault and sexual-harassment complaints — including its response to Jane Doe's allegations, its disciplinary process, and its campus police response.
The review follows growing student protests. Cornell closed down the Chi Phi campus chapter in 2024 and says it expelled some students and suspended others after a Title IX investigation.
Death threats against the accuser
Giuffra also told the AP this week that Jane Doe has been receiving death threats since the case gained national attention.
The men named in the lawsuit have denied wrongdoing. Some told investigators the sexual activity was consensual or said they were not involved.
What comes next
James has not said how long her investigation might take, but suggested it would take months. No criminal charges have been filed. The Night Desk will update this story as the investigation and the removal petition develop.
The Night Desk reports the developments in this case without presuming guilt or innocence — no criminal charges have been filed against any of the accused.
Source: Associated Press — read the original report
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