Legal experts clash over New York AG Letitia James’s role in Cornell sexual assault case
Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn join Lawrence Jones to analyze a controversial Cornell University sexual assault accusation. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten defends his decision not to charge the students, citing a lack of evidence. The panel debates the legal implications of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s public social media comments.
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A lawyer representing one of the men accused in a civil lawsuit of raping Cornell University’s “Jane Doe” has formally requested that New York Attorney General Letitia James be removed from the criminal investigation, alleging she is biased and prejudged the case before being appointed as special prosecutor.
Teny Geragos, daughter of prominent criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos, filed a motion Thursday in Tompkins County court arguing that James’ previous public statements in support of the accuser have “prejudiced grand jurors.”
The motion cited a social media post made by James on Sept. 28, the same day local prosecutor Matthew Van Houten announced he would be reopening the case.
“What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers,” James wrote. “To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
Defense attorney Teny Geragos, seen at the Manhattan Federal Courthouse on July 2, 2025, filed a motion on behalf of her client on Oct. 8, 2026, arguing that New York Attorney General Letitia James should be removed as special prosecutor in the Cornell University rape probe. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
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Geragos argued that this showed James believed the seven men in the fraternity who were named in the prior civil lawsuit were guilty “despite not having examined a shred of evidence” up to that point.
“The public cannot, and should not, have any confidence in the investigation or charging decisions of someone who has clearly prejudged the guilt of individuals who the law presumes are innocent,” Geragos wrote in the filing. “The AG should be removed.”
She also accused New York Governor Kathy Hochul of selecting James because of her “prejudicial public statements” about the case, arguing that the governor expects the investigation to produce a particular outcome.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James during a news conference in New York on Oct. 2, 2026. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Hochul referred Fox News Digital to the governor’s answer to a reporter’s question about James’ social media post at an Oct. 2 press conference.
“I will answer that. I have every confidence in our Attorney General to do what she has always done: look at the facts, examine the record and draw the proper conclusions. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case,” Hochul said.
The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Geragos’ motion comes days after another one of the men named in the civil suit filed a request in Albany State Supreme Court seeking James’s removal, also citing alleged bias.
The former Cornell student at the center of the investigation filed the civil lawsuit in September accusing seven former Chi Phi fraternity members of drugging and raping her on the night of Oct. 19, 2024, and into the following morning.
The fraternity house at the center of a rape allegation stands on the campus of Cornell University on Oct. 8, 2026, in Ithaca, New York. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
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In the lawsuit, she alleges she arrived at the frat house already intoxicated, after which the men pressured her into taking ketamine and other substances. The men have denied wrongdoing, with some maintaining the sexual activity was consensual and others denying they participated.
The fraternity was suspended on Nov. 8, 2024, the same day Doe reported sexual assault allegations to campus police, according to Doe’s civil complaint.
Van Houten, who initially declined to pursue charges, has said Doe’s November 2024 sworn statement did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang-raped and, instead, described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”