Free Republic

“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...

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...

The Cornell University Gang Rape Story unraveled a little more Wednesday when additional text messages between the alleged victim (known only as Jane Doe) and one of the men she’s accusing of rape were released. Two years ago, in the early hours of October 20, 2024, 20-year-old Jane Doe claims she was gang raped by seven members of Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity. Until she filed a massive civil suit earlier this week alleging it was rape, all the contemporaneous statements from Jane Doe (that we’ve seen) indicate she voluntarily took drugs and engaged in four hours of consensual group...

The family of a man who never attended Cornell University says it has faced threats and harassment after mistakenly receiving lawsuit papers intended for another Matthew Ingalls, a former student accused of participating in a fraternity gang rape. The family’s home address appeared on the official court docket, helping online users target the wrong Matthew Ingalls, according to The Free Press. Victoria Ingalls, the unrelated man’s mother, told the outlet she opened her door on Saturday night to find a man handing her a 101-page complaint intended for the other Matthew Ingalls, one of seven men accused of sexually assaulting...

The New York Times probably didn’t start their day planning to blow up Jane Doe’s case against the so-called “Cornell 7,” but its own reporting has done just that. Buried inside the Times’ reconstruction of the accusations against seven Cornell frat members is a sequence of events that dramatically changes the picture and essentially tells the world these young guys are innocent and there was no rape. According to documents obtained by the Times, Jane Doe didn’t initially describe herself as a “rape victim” after the night in question. Quite the contrary. She reportedly told roommates what happened, exchanged friendly...

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...