A Cornell student's lawyer is asking a judge to oust New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor, warning her public backing of the accuser makes a fair probe impossible.
Defense attorney Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Cornell student Gillio Lopes in a civil sexual assault lawsuit, has filed a motion seeking to invalidate James’s appointment and told host Kayleigh McEnany on “Saturday in America” that she cannot serve as a neutral investigator.
“I do not believe she can be fair. Had she made a statement that was empathetic or compassionate towards a victim, that's fine. I don't think that person can become a neutral investigator or prosecutor,” Miltenberg said.
The fight sits at the center of a case that began at a Cornell fraternity party, moved through a local prosecutor’s decline to charge, and then became a statewide political appointment after Gov. Kathy Hochul stepped in.
On Sept. 28, before her appointment, James posted support for the woman identified as Jane Doe.
"What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I'm holding her in my heart and in my prayers,"
She added: “To her, and to all survivors: you're not alone. We stand with you.”
James later rejected claims she had prejudged the matter. She said the comments were meant to show “empathy” and insisted that “politics stops at the door” of her office.
Miltenberg is not buying it. He said the defense welcomes a real investigation, just not one run by James.
"We welcome an investigation, just not her, and I don't know how anyone could think at this point that she could be fair."
That fairness fight has already drawn repeated scrutiny of the attorney general’s role, including earlier coverage of a lawyer’s move to remove James from the same special-prosecutor post.
The underlying dispute traces to an Oct. 19, 2024, party at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in Ithaca, New York. Jane Doe, a former Cornell student, later filed a report with Cornell University Police. Campus police investigated and submitted her six-page voluntary sworn statement to the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office.
Local prosecutors declined to pursue charges at the time. They concluded the evidence did not meet the threshold for criminal charges under New York law.
A civil complaint cited in the coverage alleges that Lopes and another defendant placed Doe on a bed before two men had nonconsensual sex with her. The case has been framed around allegations involving seven Cornell students.
Miltenberg called that civil-complaint account “not true.” He pointed to text messages Doe allegedly sent the day after the party and said her early statements to police do not match the later lawsuit narrative.
"I understand that perceptions shift and memories shift after a period of time, but her initial statements, her initial texts, her initial testimony with respect to the police, all was very clear about how she viewed this situation,"
He maintains those early messages show consensual encounters and contradict the lawsuit. The texts themselves were not published in the coverage. Doe’s legal team and the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond when Fox News Digital sought comment.
Similar pressure has surfaced in other reports detailing a defense motion to boot James from the Cornell fraternity probe over bias claims.
Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor after the local decline. Hochul’s order cited concerns raised by Doe and the public that the alleged incident could not be investigated locally “without conflict or bias.” Hochul and James later appeared together at a New York City press conference on the matter.
Miltenberg and an attorney for another defendant answered with a motion asking a judge to void that appointment. Miltenberg said he believes the challenge has a “good chance” of success and wants someone “equally as experienced” and “less personally invested” in the case.
"I am hopeful that the judge will see it that way and will void her appointment and appoint or ask the governor to appoint someone equally as experienced, equally as interested in the facts and perhaps less personally invested in the case,"
He also described the case as a “cultural battleground” and criticized Hochul and James for “grandstanding.” Lopes remains enrolled at Cornell, keeping a low profile and aiming to finish his degree, according to his lawyer.
The appointment fight has also been tied to broader political demands, including coverage of calls for James’s removal from the Cornell investigation.
The core dispute is straightforward. A prosecutor who announces solidarity with one side before taking the case invites a fairness challenge. James framed her September post as compassion. Miltenberg framed it as disqualifying pre-commitment.
That same tension has driven earlier pushes for recusal after James’s public comments on the accuser, including reporting on a defense push for James to recuse from the Cornell assault probe.
No court ruling on the motion is reported yet. The civil case caption, full appointment order text, complete day-after messages, and the full six-page police statement were not laid out in the available coverage. What is clear is the sequence: a campus party, a delayed report, a local no-charge decision, a governor’s special appointment, a pre-appointment social-media embrace of the accuser, and a defense motion that says the special prosecutor already chose a side.
Due process does not bend for political theater. If the state wants a clean investigation, it needs a prosecutor who has not already written the ending in public.
