The renewed investigation into the alleged 2024 gang rape at a Cornell University frat house has propelled a broader conversation about consent — and laws surrounding it, including in New York. A former Cornell student, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, told campus police in Nove mber of 2024 that she was sexually assaulted, then discussed it with the university’s internal investigators as part of Cornell’s disciplinary process. The initial investigation closed with no criminal charges filed (although some of the accused were suspended, some expelled and others tasked with writing an essay). But the case, gained renewed interest when last month, the woman filed a lawsuit against seven frat brothers, the university, the Chi Phi frat and others alleging she was plied with drugs and alcohol, then subjected to sexual acts by a group of men while she was partially or entirely incapacitated. One of the men sent a social media message to other fraternity members alerting them to what was happening, and inviting people to take part, according to the lawsuit. Lawyers for two of the men she is suing have denied they participated in a sexual assault. One said his client hadn’t touched the woman. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the other men or their representatives have been unsuccessful. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the investigation following the lawsuit. He has since been bombarded by criticism that he abandoned the original investigation too quickly. On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul took Van Houten off the case and assigned the attorney general will oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury, Hochul said. Van Houten didn’t immediately respond to Thursday messages seeking comment. What is the ‘voluntary intoxication exclusion’ loophole? Experts say there is a legal “loophole” in not only New York but nearly two dozen other states, when it comes to rape laws and consent: it is nearly impossible for victims to seek justice if they voluntarily consume drugs or alcohol and then are sexually assaulted. As it stands now in New York State law, a person is incapable of consent if they are “mentally incapacitated” which is defined as a “person is rendered temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling his conduct owing to the influence of a narcotic or intoxicating substance administered to him without his consent, or to any other act committed upon him without his consent.” The loophole is that in order for there to not be consent, a person has to be drugged or given an intoxicating substance without their knowledge. The law does not apply if someone voluntarily consumes alcohol or drugs and were then attacked. Now, there is a renewed call to get rid of this distinction. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape. Period,” the governor said during a Friday press conference on the matter. Policy makers and activists demand a change A group called Justice Without Exclusion, has been pressuring Albany lawmakers for years to prioritize closing the voluntary intoxication loophole. Lizzie Asher, one of the group’s co-founders, said more than two dozen other states make it a crime to have sex with someone too intoxicated to consent. She said it should be a scandal that victims of muggings have more protections under New York’s criminal code than do victims of sex crimes. “If they were to go to the police department and say, ‘I was mugged,’ no matter how incapacitated that person was, the police wouldn’t say to that person, ‘Oh, but you were drunk. Your mugging didn’t happen,'” Asher previously said. “For some reason, out of all the major crimes in the state, rape is the only one that is treated differently, so the level of intoxication somehow eliminates the fact that a crime existed.” On Thursday morning, Asher and other activists and legislators held a press conference in The Bronx asking for the gap in this law to be closed. On Friday, Hochul also said she supports a change in the law to get rid of the loophole. Handling of initial case raises questions Hochul said Friday that the woman who accused members of a Cornell University fraternity of gang rape was “failed” by people obligated to protect her, including police and the county prosecutor. Hochul’s claim came during a news conference in which she gave details on her decision to turn the case over to a special prosecutor, the state Attorney General Letitia James. The governor said she made the decision after learning “troubling details” about how authorities have handled the woman’s claims thus far, including that the district attorney closed the case without having anyone interview the victim or anyone else involved in the alleged attack. “In what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?” Hochul said. “This woman, this young woman, had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable. And then at every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her.” She also assailed the Cornell University Police Department for not fully conveying the woman’s story to prosecutors. “After this young woman came forward, she spoke to the police. She sat for hours and told them exactly what happened to her. And according to new reports, she could not have been clearer that she was 100% confident that she had been raped,” the governor said. “Yet, shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell police sent to prosecutors.” Hochul said Thursday that she appointed James to oversee the case because she had lost faith in the local district attorney’s ability to handle it. The investigation initially was closed without charges in 2024. New York governors have turned to attorneys general to oversee important cases in the past. In 2018, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed then-Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas as a special prosecutor to investigate Eric Schneiderman, who resigned as New York attorney general after women accused him of violent slapping, choking and other abuse. In 2021, James oversaw a non-criminal investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, leading to his resignation. Cuomo initially tried to choose who would lead the investigation into the allegations. He then allowed James to choose two independent attorneys to lead it instead. James’ office also handles other criminal work and has the power under state law to investigate every death involving law enforcement in the state. But, typically, she can’t initiate criminal investigations without a referral from a local district attorney, the governor or a state agency, or an appointment like the one Hochul made Thursday. Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less