cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/67688359

Kathy Hochul, the New York governor, said on Thursday she was appointing Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, as special prosecutor to investigate the alleged gang-rape at Cornell University.

“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued,” Hochul said in a statement. “This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated without conflict or bias, and handled independently with the rigor that this matter demands.”

In her statement, Hochul said the decision by Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins county ⁠district attorney, not to prosecute the 2024 case, and the questions raised in recent days over the Cornell police department’s investigation of the allegations, have “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the district attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time”.