James Appoints Kelly Outside Counsel in Cornell Assault Probe

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday appointed Jacqueline Kelly, a former federal prosecutor and Cornell University alumna, as outside counsel to lead a criminal investigation into an alleged sexual assault on Cornell’s campus in October 2024, according to a news release from James’s office and reporting by The Guardian.

Kelly previously served as the inaugural chief of the Civil Rights Unit in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She is a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and a graduate of Cornell and Columbia Law School. She will lead a team of attorneys and staff from the Office of the Attorney General and her firm and will report to the attorney general’s office, the release said.

Scope of the inquiry

James said the office is committed to a thorough investigation guided by the facts, the evidence and the law. Kelly said she looked forward to examining all available evidence. The release said the team’s work includes gathering and analyzing evidence, reviewing previous investigative records and reports, conducting witness interviews, and analyzing the facts and applicable law.

On Oct. 1, 2026, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Executive Order No. 64 appointing the attorney general as special prosecutor to investigate the conduct of, and if warranted present evidence to a grand jury against and prosecute offenses arising out of, the sexual assault allegations described in the civil complaint in Jane Doe v. Cornell University. The attorney general’s office began searching for outside counsel the same day, the release said.

Background of the case

The Guardian reported that Hochul said she had lost faith in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten’s ability to oversee the matter after his decision not to prosecute in 2024. According to The Guardian, the case centers on allegations by a Cornell student that seven fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted her over about seven hours in October 2024. Those claims are allegations that have not been proven in court; no arrests have been reported, The Guardian said.

Lawyers for one of the accused men have sought to remove James as special prosecutor, citing an X post she shared before the appointment in which she described what the young woman had endured as horrific and unacceptable, The Guardian reported. At a hearing last Thursday in Sullivan County, Judge James R. Farrell deferred a decision and said all of the accused would need to join the request before he would rule, according to The Guardian.

Developing: No charging decisions have been announced, and a court challenge to James’s role as special prosecutor remains unresolved.

Sources: New York Attorney General, The Guardian