District attorney in Cornell case claims he never saw police transcript with alleged rape victim

00:01:19

Provided to him by Cornell police?

00:01:22

By Cornell police. A Cornell police officer took the statement. A Title IX officer was there, as well as an advisor. That’s according to our CBS New York colleagues. Now, I have just reviewed this six-page, single-typed document, and even if it doesn’t say I can say 100% that I was raped, it describes drug use, the fact that she’s not used to using hard drugs, extreme intoxication.

00:01:56

Confusion. Confusion. She was not feeling good about the encounter at different times. She was feeling used, and she is very– Like Caroline Polisi said this morning on CBS Mornings, why would you go to the police if you believed it was 100% consensual? That’s right. And my understanding is Jane Doe felt that when she went to the police, she was giving them evidence of rape. She didn’t understand that the district attorney was not going to see it that way at all. And so really quickly, what was this transcript a part of? This was a part of the same interview that just never made it into the report? It was a two-day interview that essentially was the basis for that six-page report that campus police sent to the district attorney. So it was very much a part of it. But somehow during the process of typing it out and revising it, she looked at it. That clause, which is so crucial, was taken out. And I think it’s also important to note that after this initial statement, there was no follow-up with Jane Doe. There were no further interviews, and the DA has been pressed on that. But where do we go from here? Is the next thing essentially a grand-jury presentation? Well, the district attorney says he wants to interview Jane Doe, and he wants to reopen the case, which generally means he’s going to collect evidence and potentially send that to a grand jury. And so citizens can take a look and decide for themselves if charges can go forward.

00:03:26

And we’ve heard from lawyers from a few of the accused but not all. That’s right. At least two of them deny any involvement. I mean blatant denial. So we have to take that into account. I think it is important to note that according to Jane Doe’s own lawyer, two of them were expelled. So two were not punished to any real severity, and then three were suspended. It was multiple-semester suspensions. And so there’s a gradation of behavior that was sanctioned. And I think it’s important when we’re talking about a legal case, we have to be really specific about, which individual did which act that violated the law? And that’s what the district attorney is going to be drilling down on and presenting to that grand jury. Anna Schecter, thank you.