Hochul to address Cornell University case after appointing Leticia James to investigate alleged gang-rape – US politics live
Kathy Hochul said she no longer has faith in the local district attorney’s ability to handle the case, which has restarted a national conversation about sexual assault on college campusesSign up for the Breaking News US emailTop lawyers, doctors and members of the faith community are calling for a moratorium on the US death penalty after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike left the prisoner alive but in critical condition and receiving life-saving medical care.The recent spate of harrowingly botched executions across US death penalty states reached a new low late on Wednesday when Tennessee’s governor Bill Lee called off the procedure after Pike had been injected with two full syringes of pentobarbital. She is the only person to have survived being administered 5mg of the sedative – a massive dose that under normal circumstances is considered fatal. Continue reading...
The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, has named New York attorney general Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang-rape at Cornell University in 2024, saying she had lost faith in the local district attorney’s ability to handle the case. Both Hochul and James are due to speak today to provide an update on the investigation following the attorney general’s appointment. Hochul said newly released information raised questions about the investigation conducted by Cornell police and the decision by Tompkins County prosecutors not to file charges.
“This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the district attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time,” she said in a statement. James will oversee the investigation and, if warranted, present evidence to a grand jury, Hochul added. Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins County district attorney, declined at the time of the alleged assault to file charges, saying his o