Oct. 9 (UPI) — A second man accused in the alleged gang rape of a Cornell University student in 2024 on Friday asked a judge to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the case.
Lawyers for defendant Winston Lee said James “has already publicly prejudged the guilt” of the seven men accused in the lawsuit.
Lee joins Gillio Lopes, whose attorneys requested James’ removal on Wednesday.
At issue are comments James made when assigned the post of special prosecutor, years after a local prosecutor received the woman’s report alleging gang rape but filed no charges in the case.
“What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” James wrote in a statement on X. “To her and all other survivors: You’re not alone. We stand with you.”
Lee’s attorneys said James and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who appointed James as special prosecutor, “have together created a blatant appearance of impropriety.”
“This public political stunt by the Governor and the AG to make repeated public statements, remove the case from the elected county prosecutor, and prejudge guilt in a criminal investigation for political advantage a month before election day is unethical and in violation of the law,” Lee’s attorney, Teny Geragos, said in a court filing Friday.
“The AG is unquestionably biased, as her own public statements show.”
Both Lee and Lopes have denied sexually assaulting the woman, known in court papers only as Jane Doe.
The woman, who was 20 at the time, told police she was assaulted in 2024 by seven men in a fraternity on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York.
Giuffra said she was pressured into taking the drug ketamine and was incapable of providing consent because she was “completely intoxicated.”
Her lawyers filed a civil lawsuit in the case last month, drawing public scrutiny and renewing calls for criminal charges.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for James said the attorney general is “committed to conducting a comprehensive review of nothing but the facts, the evidence, and the law.”
“Those comments demonstrate empathy, and what we need now more than ever in our body politic is more empathy,” James told ABC News on Thursday. “The governor of the great state of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, assigned me to analyze this case and to judge it and to do it without bias.
“She’s requesting an unbiased investigation and a thorough investigation, and we will do that based on the facts and based on the evidence.”
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