Tompkins DA reopens Cornell alleged sexual assault case for grand jury review
Tompkins County’s DA is revisiting 2024 allegations at a Cornell fraternity after a civil lawsuit, while defending the earlier decision not to charge.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has reopened the review into allegations at Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity and plans to have a senior prosecutor prepare the matter for a grand jury. The move in the Cornell sexual assault charges case follows a civil lawsuit filed this month by a former student identified as Jane Doe, NBC News and ABC News reported.
No criminal charges have been filed, and a grand-jury review is not a finding that a crime occurred. Van Houten said prosecutors will assess whether information now available changes the office’s 2024 assessment and could support a finding of criminal conduct.
The lawsuit alleges that seven Chi Phi fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted Doe during the night of Oct. 19 into Oct. 20, 2024, at the fraternity house. Those allegations have not been adjudicated.
Why did prosecutors initially not seek charges?
Van Houten said Doe’s November 2024 statement to police did not allege she was drugged without her knowledge, forced into sexual activity, or incapacitated. He said the account then available to his office described the drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual, according to NBC News and ABC News.
He also said the allegations detailed in the new civil complaint differ substantially from the original police account. Van Houten told ABC News that his office had relied on the Cornell Police investigation and did not conduct a separate investigation, saying police investigate alleged crimes while prosecutors handle potential cases.
Doe’s lawyer, Thomas P. Giuffra, disputes that account. He said his client was traumatized in the aftermath of the alleged assault and was not interviewed by anyone beyond the officer who received her original report, according to NBC News.
Giuffra said further interviews could have produced leads and evidence. He also challenged Van Houten’s statement that a screenshot from a fraternity Snapchat group chat had not reached the district attorney’s office, saying authorities received the messages in 2024. Van Houten said the screenshot included in the civil complaint was not provided to his office, ABC News reported.
The planned grand-jury presentation will allow prosecutors to examine Doe’s testimony and material included in the civil complaint, NBC News reported. A grand jury considers whether evidence supports criminal charges; it does not decide guilt or innocence at trial.
Cornell discipline and the criminal review are separate
Cornell said it supports the decision to bring the allegations before a criminal grand jury. The university said its Title IX process was separate from the criminal review and led to sanctions that included expulsions and suspensions, according to NBC News and ABC News.
The university also said its Xi chapter of Chi Phi remains barred from campus. Cornell disputed a suggestion that essay-writing was the only punishment for people charged in its Title IX process, saying no such individual was offered essays as the sole consequence. Doe’s lawyers have alleged that fraternity members could mitigate their conduct by submitting essays.
An attorney for Scott Kretzschmar, one of the men named in the lawsuit, denied the allegations against his client and said he welcomed the renewed investigation, NBC News reported. The reports did not include responses from the other named defendants.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.