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A district attorney in Tompkins County, New York, has reopened an investigation into the alleged gang-rape of a Cornell University student at the Chi Phi fraternity house after an outcry over lenient sanctions against seven fraternity members.
A district attorney in Tompkins County, New York, said on Monday that his office has reopened an investigation into the alleged gang-rape of a student at Cornell University after an outcry over leniency shown to seven fraternity members named as the perpetrators.
The woman, who was 20 at the time of the October 2024 incident, filed a civil lawsuit against the university and her alleged attackers earlier in September. According to her lawyers, only two members of the Chi Phi fraternity were expelled, none of the seven were arrested, and the others were made to write essays, attend workshops, or serve short suspensions.
DA Reopens Investigation After Lawsuit
Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins county district attorney, said his office was looking again at the case after the woman presented allegations in her lawsuit that were dramatically different from the statement she gave to police two years ago. Later on Monday, he released a fuller statement defending his office's past decision not to seek charges.
While I generally refrain from commenting publicly on criminal investigations, the community outrage stemming from the incomplete news and social media coverage requires that I provide an answer to why the investigation resulted in a lack of criminal charges, he said. He went on to say that Jane Doe's sworn statement in November 2024 did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped.
On the contrary, Van Houten said, Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. 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. He added that he has never been contacted by Jane Doe's attorneys and that he reached out to them after the lawsuit was filed.
The district attorney said he has asked a senior female prosecutor to prepare a case for a grand jury, adding that he recognizes that the process of healing from trauma is personal and different for every human. Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence, he said. Van Houten also released a summary of a six-page, single-spaced, typewritten statement that Doe provided to Cornell University police in November 2024.
Victim's Police Statement Details Incident
According to the summary, Doe told police she agreed to engage in sexual activity with two Chi Phi members due to how attracted she was to one of them, on top of her drunken curiousness. The summary added that another man entered the room, shook her hand, and began kissing her, while another man groped her, eventually leading to a threesome. Four men later entered the room.
The summary said Doe had difficulty remembering parts of what happened next and that some members started to compliment her looks and asked if they could take drugs off her body. She responded, Sure. Outrage over the treatment of the alleged offenders has grown since the lawsuit was made public. The woman, who quit the university afterwards, said she went to visit a friend at the Chi Phi frat house in an already intoxicated state.
The lawsuit said she had consumed about 10 standard drinks within the past three hours and was visibly intoxicated. One defendant pulled her off to a quieter area and propositioned her with having a threesome with her and another fraternity brother, and in her drunken state she was incapable of consenting, the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit then alleges that two men pressured her into snorting the alleged Ketamine with them, a drug she had never done before.
During this time, they also plied her with marijuana and Jamaican Liquor, believed to be some type of high-proof rum. While they sexually assaulted her, she alleges, a message was sent to a frat house Snapchat group called Chi Phi Actives that stated there was free pussy upstairs. At least five other frat members showed up and joined in, she said, and her ordeal lasted until about 5.45am and she lost consciousness, the lawsuit said.
It also alleges that Doe was slapped multiple times and that her phone was on the other side of the room, and she felt as if there was no way for her to escape this room full of predatory, fraternity men. When she awoke later that day, on October 20, 2024, she returned to her residence within the Alpha Beta chapter sorority house, according to the lawsuit.
An attorney for the student told CBS News that none of the alleged perpetrators faced legal consequences and nobody in the frat house who saw the message did anything to stop the rapes. Not one of these guys was arrested, said the lawyer, Thomas Giuffra. Not one. That I can tell you for a fact.
Lawyer Counters District Attorney Claims
There were so many people that could have prevented it and they didn't. I've never seen anything like it. Giuffra also countered Van Houten's statement, which laid out what he said the alleged victim stated in her original police complaint from November 2024. She admits to taking drugs and alcohol voluntarily and with knowledge.
She does not allege that she was forced to engage in any acts. She does not say that she was physically helpless or unconscious or incapacitated at any point during the time at the fraternity house, Van Houten had said. Giuffra told ABC News that neither the district attorney nor Cornell police ever followed up with his client. In my experience, speaking with an abuse survivor requires delicacy, understanding and specialized training, he said.
An average university police officer would not have these skills. It would be the role of a specially trained detective or district attorney.
However, Ms Doe was never contacted by anybody with those skills. Named defendants in the lawsuit are Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar. At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way, Jeremy Saland, an attorney for Kretzschmar, said. Period.
Norris denied engaging in sexual activity or drug use but acknowledged he sent a message that was included in the complaint. I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened, he said. Cornell University's president, Michael Kotlikoff, said on 21 September that the allegations were deeply disturbing.
Cornell Fraternity Remains Barred From Campus
Kimball's statement claimed the Ivy League institution's offices of civil rights, student conduct and community standards carried out a number of inquiries at the time. The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity remains barred from our campus, Kimball's statement also said. Federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students and we therefore are unable to make a public statement on any other disciplinary response.
Violations of university policies could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion. We will respond in detail through the legal process. A fraternity member's mother, Lisa Pugh, wrote about Giuffra's client, praising the unbelievably powerful victim and her strong will. This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us, Pugh wrote.
You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are. Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US,
Chi Phi Fraternity Gang-Rape Investigation Tompkins County District Attorney Sexual Assault Lawsuit
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