Cornell 7 Jane Doe was misled by DA about status of criminal probe into alleged gang rape: attorney

The “Cornell 7” Jane Doe at the center of an alleged frat house gang rape was “misled” about the status of the criminal probe into her claims — after bringing them to campus police, her attorney said.The victim, a female student only identified as Jane Doe, was led to believe an investigation was moving forward after reporting the alleged October 2024 assault to campus police several weeks later, according to her attorney, Thomas Guiffra.But it turned out the probe wrapped shortly after it started, when Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten decided against pressing charges days after cops first spoke with her.Van Houten said he asked Cornell police to tell Doe about his decision — but never spoke to her or her lawyer personally.“I think she was misled.She was told it was still — they weren’t going to prosecute, but they were still investigating,” Giuffra told the Associated Press.

“I was involved with this case early on.I thought they were still investigating.

“It was news to me that they weren’t doing anything.”The attorney said he assumed investigators needed more time to speak with witnesses and build a case.“But nothing was being done, and we didn’t know that,” Giuffra said.Last week, Van Houten said his office had declined to press charges after reviewing a six-page summary of Doe’s account written by a police officer.From that report, Van Houten believed no crime had been committed and that Doe’s sexual participation and drug use that night were “voluntary, conscious and consensual,” he said.That account differs greatly from what Doe said she told police and Cornell investigators at the time, and with what she alleged in a lawsuit she filed last month against seven Chi Phi fraternity members and Cornell.Last week, it was reported that a Cornell police investigator allegedly tried to get Van Houten’s office to consider additional evidence in the weeks following the reported rape, but was rebuffed.“A...