A lawyer for one of the men accused in the Cornell University sexual assault lawsuit has asked for the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, to be removed from leading the investigation into the incident.
Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Ms. James last week to investigate the allegations made by the former student, who has come to be known as Jane Doe, in a lawsuit against seven men last month.
In the lawsuit, Jane Doe alleged that what began as a consensual sexual encounter on Oct. 19, 2024, spiraled into a prolonged, drug-fueled attack inside a fraternity house by several men.
The court filing seeking to remove Ms. James was filed in Albany County by a lawyer for Gillio Lopes. They asked a judgeto remove Ms. James and appoint a different special prosecutor “who is free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest or bias” against their client or the others named in the lawsuit.
The offices of Ms. James and Ms. Hochul did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Mr. Lopes was suspended from the university following an administrative process, according to discipline summaries obtained by The New York Times. A three-member panel, which met on Zoom over 12 days in May 2025, handed down a three-semester suspension for Mr. Lopes and two years of probation, the summaries show.
Mr. Lopes has unequivocally denied the allegations, his lawyer has said. The other men have also denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges have been filed against any of them.
Mr. Lopes remained on campus in recent weeks, though his lawyer has said he is considering leaving the school. A widely viewed video on Instagram showed a woman approaching Mr. Lopes in a hallway on campus and telling him, “I just wanted to let you know personally that I’m ashamed to be on the same campus as you.”
The filing on Wednesday came as the latest major development in a sexual assault case that has consumed Cornell’s Ithaca campus, plunging the Ivy League institution into a crisis and reigniting a decades old conversation about campus sexual violence. The woman’s allegations unleashed a flood of outrage over the handling of her case, both by the university and the local district attorney.
The focus of many in the public, including politicians, turned to what law enforcement knew at the time of Jane Doe’s alleged assault and the decisions made to not pursue her case at the time.
As information about the allegations spread online and the Tompkins County district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, said he would reopenan investigation, Ms. James posted a message on social media saying what Jane Doe “has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable.”
“I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers,” Ms. James wrote. “To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
Later in the week, in response to the outrage and revelations about the investigation, Ms. Hochul said she had “lost faith” in Mr. Van Houten.
In a news conference on Friday, standing next to Ms. James, the governor expressed concern at how local law enforcement had handled Jane Doe’s allegations of the assault at the time of her report. And Ms. Hochul said she had “every confidence” in Ms. James to “look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions.”
But, according to Mr. Lopes lawyers,Ms. James’s comments on social media about Jane Doe’s accusations require her to recuse herself.
“By describing what Doe ‘has been forced to endure’ and identifying her with ‘survivors,’ Attorney General James publicly characterized the alleged experience as an event that had occurred, before she was entrusted with the reopened criminal investigation,” the lawyer wrote.
Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University’s law school, said that Ms. James’s comments “skirted around the limitation of what she can say and do as a prosecutor,” he said, adding that Ms. James stayed within the bounds of what’s allowed.
“On the other hand, I would have liked more care for a high profile case like this,” Mr. Gillers said.
William K. Rashbaum and Debra Kamin contributed reporting.
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