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Some New York lawmakers are urging a revamp of the state\u2019s sexual assault statutes to make it easier to prosecute cases involving intoxicated victims, following renewed outrage over an alleged 2024 gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity house.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Tompkins County district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, said this week that his office initially declined to pursue charges against the students accused of raping \u200bthe woman partly due to the constraints of current New York law.<\/span><\/p>\n The law makes a distinction between sexual assault victims who became intoxicated voluntarily, as the alleged \u200cCornell victim appears to have done \u2013 by willingly consuming alcohol or drugs, for instance \u2013 and those who were given intoxicants without their consent or knowledge. Only the latter can be considered \u201cmentally incapacitated\u201d and therefore unable to consent.<\/span><\/p>\n As a result, it can be more difficult to bring certain rape charges in a case when the victim chose to consume intoxicants, even if doing so affected their ability to agree to a sexual act, according to experts and advocates.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essentially \u200ba get-out-of-jail-free card in some situations,\u201d said Stefan Turkheimer, vice president for public policy at the anti-sexual assault nonprofit Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). \u201cIt says, if someone is sexually \u200bassaulted because they got too high or too drunk, it\u2019s their fault.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who has sponsored legislation for years aimed at closing what \u2060he describes as loopholes in the law, is again pushing a bill that would allow rape to be charged if a perpetrator reasonably should have known a victim was unable to consent \u200bbecause of intoxication.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRape is the only crime that I\u2019m aware of where, if the victim was drunk, they may not get justice,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cThere shouldn\u2019t be any difference in terms of \u200bthe survivors of sexual assault between the people who are voluntarily intoxicated and who are involuntarily intoxicated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Dinowitz and State Senator Nathalia Fernandez, who co-sponsored the legislation, are due to hold a press conference on Thursday in New York City to rally support for the bill.<\/span><\/p>\n The renewed legislative push comes just days after Van Houten said he would reopen the investigation after the alleged victim filed a civil lawsuit against seven Chi Phi fraternity \u200bmembers as well as the university and several other defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the lawsuit, fraternity brothers plied her with alcohol and ketamine and then sexually assaulted her after she became incapacitated.<\/span><\/p>\n Noting the public outcry, \u200bVan Houten issued a lengthy explanation for why his office did not pursue criminal charges in 2024 after the woman reported her allegations to campus police.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Van Houten, the woman, a 20-year-old student at the \u200ctime, did not \u2060claim she was involuntarily intoxicated, physically forced or unconscious, or that she had clearly expressed that she did not consent \u2013 all state law provisions that determine whether a crime can be charged.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn this case, multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators reviewed Jane Doe\u2019s statement and correctly determined the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n However, Van Houten said he would now present the case, including testimony from the woman, to a grand jury for possible indictment.<\/span><\/p>\n The woman\u2019s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, has said the 2024 statement and the lawsuit were not materially different and faulted prosecutors \u200bfor not investigating further two years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n Dinowitz and \u200bFernandez\u2019s bill has passed the state Senate \u2060more than once over the years but has yet to receive a floor vote in the Assembly. Dinowitz said he hoped the public anger over the Cornell case would pressure lawmakers to ensure its passage.<\/span><\/p>\n Nineteen states, including New York, consider mental incapacitation only in cases where the victim was involuntarily intoxicated, \u200baccording to Elizabeth Jeglic, a sexual abuse expert and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d \u200bshe said. \u201cIf you\u2019re incapacitated, you\u2019re \u2060incapacitated, regardless of whether you consumed it yourself or somebody else gave it to you without your consent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The interim executive director of the national Chi Phi fraternity said in a statement on Wednesday that the Cornell chapter voted unanimously to expel accused members three days after the police report was filed in 2024, and that the national organization also expelled them soon thereafter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThese actions went beyond anything the law or Cornell \u2060University required of \u200bus,\u201d said the director, Trey Robb. \u201cThey failed to meet the standards we set for every brother, and accountability is how \u200bwe will always respond to behavior that falls short of those standards.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Cornell has defended its handling of the case, saying it investigated it and imposed discipline on the accused students ranging from suspensions to expulsions.<\/span><\/p>\nGRAND JURY TO CONSIDER CASE<\/span><\/h2>\n