New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James

I have not been following the Cornell gang rape case very closely, In case you haven’t either, even to the point where you don’t know what I’m talking about, the Cornell case is one where a young lady has accused seven fraternity men of either having non-consensual sex with her or of arranging other men to have non-consensual sex with her. All of the primary players are Cornell students. That’s about as much as you need to know for the purposes of reading this post, because this post is not about the case, per se. It’s about Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York state and her bias in investigating the matter.

Ms. James made at least one public statement prior to her being named a special prosecutor on the case by Governor Kathy Hochul. In a XFacebook statement on September 28, 2024, Ms. James shared to a New York Times article announcing that the case had been re-opened, and wrote: “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”

I don’t know what that sounds like to you, but it sounds to me that Letitia James had made up her mind on the matter and had no inhibitions about sharing them. At a joint interview with AG James and Gov Hochul, a journalist asked Ms. James why she made a statement that affirmed the woman’s accusations as fact, and he asked Ms. Hochul why she named as special prosecutor an official who had made a public statement “affirming those allegations as fact.” Gov Hochul answered that she had complete confidence in AG James. Ms. James, for her part, said. “I will not comment on a Facebook post.,” even though it was her Facebook post.

To no one’s surprise, the attorney for one of the accused, Gillio Lopes, has filed what is called an Article 78 petition, against Ms. James and Ms. Hochul, asking that Ms. James not be the special prosecutor investigating the case since, they charge, she clearly has a bias against the accused and in favor of the accuser and insists she could not possibly carry out an objective investigation. This sounds like a no-brainer petition and a no-brainer decision on the petition. Anywhere else, and Ms. James would be kicked out of the case for making such a statement of support for the accuser. But, of course, this is New York, so who knows what will happen? My guess is that Ms. James will be allowed to continue in her appointment as special prosecutor. But I may be surprised.

I’m not going to speculate on whether or not the accusations against the seven fraternity men at Cornell are true or false. Frankly, I’ve no idea. That’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is that everyone deserves a fair trial in these United States. An integral part of a fair trial is an investigation that is carried out in an objective way. If Ms. James remains special prosecutor, and if her investigation concludes that the seven frat men at Cornell did gang rape the woman, as she charges, or even if her investigation concludes that they didn’t, her investitation will always be suspect. There’s no way it could not be.

The Cornell men, and the Cornell woman who is accusing them, both deserve better. They both deserve an investigation that is objective and impartial. Is there anyone on this planet, other than Kathy Hochul (and who knows what she really thinks?) that believes Letitia James is capable of carrying out such an investigation, after the public statement she made? I’m not, that’s for sure.

This country was founded on certain principles. One of those principles is that even those accused of the most heinous of crimes deserve a fair trial. By any measure, it appears that the state of New York is not willing to secure that for these young men. That is an affront to every American.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.