Cornell University rape case reopens, DA said Jane Doe described sex as consensual, then said he had never seen transcript in which she said “I was raped”

The reopening of a 2024 alleged gang-rape case at Cornell University has raised a new question about what prosecutors were told when they initially declined to bring charges. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten previously said Jane Doe’s sworn statement to Cornell police described her drug use and sexual activity as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual.” But a newly obtained transcript of her campus-police interview shows Doe saying, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”

Van Houten has since told CBS News he had never seen the full interview transcript and said, “I never saw it, never heard it until tonight.”