The lawyer for the woman who alleges she was raped at a Cornell University fraternity house says she is "not doing well" as she finds herself "under siege" from online sleuths seeking to identify her.
Allegations of Assault
Thomas Giuffra, the attorney representing the woman known in legal documents as Jane Doe, stated that she was "incapable of consent" due to being "completely, grossly intoxicated" when she arrived at the fraternity house where the alleged assault occurred. The woman claims she was raped by seven men at the campus in Ithaca, New York, in 2024. Initially, no charges were filed in the case, but it has since reopened following her civil lawsuit, which has brought the claims into the national spotlight and reignited the possibility of criminal charges.
Online Harassment
In an interview on Friday with CNN, Giuffra remarked, "She's under siege on social media where people are trying to identify her." He noted that there have been postings that have "incorrectly" identified other women as Doe.
Government Response
In a separate interview with CBS, Giuffra argued that his client, who was 20 at the time, was unable to provide consent because she was intoxicated upon arriving at the fraternity house. He claimed she had been pressured into taking the drug ketamine before the alleged assault. His comments coincided with New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointing the state's top prosecutor, Attorney General Letitia James, to take over the investigation. At a news conference on Friday, Hochul expressed that she had "lost faith" in the county prosecutor's ability to handle the case, stating:
