Free Republic

New York Attorney General Letitia James just became the face of the Cornell rape case. This is not going to end well. Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor in the Cornell University sexual assault investigation, effectively removing the case from Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. “New reporting raises serious questions about the information his office relied upon when it made that decision,” Hochul said in announcing the move. James will now oversee the investigation and can present evidence to a grand jury and prosecute offenses if warranted. Whether or not we get justice in this disturbing...

About 20 states have laws that can make it difficult to prosecute sexual assault cases if accusers voluntarily drank or took drugs. As detailed allegations of a 2024 gang rape at Cornell University emerged last month, Summer Willis felt both horror and a sense of recognition. There were fraternity brothers exchanging vulgar messages about the accuser on Snapchat, echoing what Willis says happened after she herself was assaulted in 2014. And there was a district attorney saying on television that state law had made filing charges difficult or impossible, just as Willis had been told years ago. “I almost threw...

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been appointed as special prosecutor in the Cornell University sexual assault investigation, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday, following increasing scrutiny and uproar over how university police and the local district attorney’s office handled the matter two years ago. Hochul said in a statement that “newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation,” which has in turn “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith.” She said James, who has been attorney general since 2019, will take over the case of a former Cornell University student who alleged in a lawsuit last...