Second Cornell Defendant Seeks Recusal

What happened

Lawyers for Winston Lee and Gillio Lopes separately asked courts to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James from the Cornell fraternity rape investigation. Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor, giving her control of the criminal inquiry and authority to seek a grand jury. Jane Doe alleges seven Chi Phi fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted her in October 2024; the men deny wrongdoing, and none has been charged. Hochul cited new questions about the campus police investigation, while Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said the report he received omitted drugging or gang-rape allegations. James can keep investigating while the recusal requests and ethics complaint remain pending.

How each side covered it

From the left

Left-leaning outlets framed the filings as another attempt by accused men to disqualify James over her public support for Doe. The Boston Globe tied James’s appointment to Hochul’s stated loss of confidence in the local prosecutor. It also highlighted James’s answer to bias claims: a review limited to facts, evidence and law.

From the right

Right-leaning outlets emphasized doubts about James’s impartiality, focusing on whether her public support showed she had prejudged the accused men. Fox News centered the defense claim that James was biased before she received the special-prosecutor role. The New York Post lingered on the ethics complaint, citing the call for recusal to protect the case’s integrity.

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Second Cornell Defendant Seeks Recusal

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