One of the seven Cornell students accused of a 2024 gang rape has petitioned to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. A state Supreme Court judge is giving the petitioners a week to have more of the accused join the petition.
In September, Letitia James posted a message of solidarity with Jane Doe on X, writing “I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers.”
The attorney for Gillio Lopes has argued the post shows James is biased and not qualified to be the special prosecutor. James says any allegations that she can’t be impartial are “wildly speculative.”
The judge is pushing Lopes’ attorneys to get more of the accused to join their challenge – to avoid having seven different court proceedings. Lopes’ attorney, Andrew Miltenberg, says he’s confident all of them will.
“I think they're going to and I think to the ones that may not want to, the judge will force them to join,” Miltenberg said after the court proceeding.
Assistant Attorney General Kaitlin Vigars argued Thursday that any harms Lopes is worried about have not occurred.
James told the New York Public New Network’s Jon Campbell Thursday that her office has hired outside counsel in the Cornell probe.
“We come upon someone with expertise as we have done in the past on other cases on complex issues like this. We seek outside counsel. It's nothing new. We did it previously in the Cuomo case,” James said.
The next appearance in the case is scheduled for Thursday, November 5th.
