BS BULLETIN:
-
Newly obtained text messages show the Cornell 7 accuser reassuring one of the men she later accused of sexual assault.
-
She wrote that she liked being with two of the men and said they shouldn’t feel ashamed of the encounter.
-
Her attorney says the messages reflect denial and shame as she processed what happened, not proof that the alleged assault was consensual.
The woman accusing seven Cornell University fraternity members of sexual assault told one of the men they had nothing to be ashamed of just two days after the alleged attack, according to newly revealed text messages.
In an exclusive report Thursday, TMZ published screenshots of an October 21, 2024, conversation between the woman, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, and Jonathan Newell, one of the defendants in her lawsuit.
Newell apologized for what happened at the Chi Phi fraternity house, saying he and fellow student Matthew Ingalls regretted being too intoxicated to stop other people from entering the room.
Doe responded that her own memories were cloudy and that everyone had been heavily intoxicated.
She also wrote that she had enjoyed being with Newell and Ingalls and defended what she called the group sexual encounter.
In another message, she wrote that they should not feel ashamed, invoking the phrase “our body our choice.”
The exchange is significant because Doe subsequently accused Newell, Ingalls and five other fraternity members of sexually assaulting her after she became incapacitated by alcohol and ketamine.
Her lawsuit alleges that men entered the room and engaged in sexual acts without her consent.
The newly published messages also suggest that Doe believed other people should have left the room rather than become involved.
Newell and Ingalls were later expelled following Cornell’s disciplinary investigation. Both have disputed allegations of nonconsensual sexual activity.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, rejected the suggestion that the messages disproved her allegations.
“This was part of the processing that she was going through, denial, shame and ultimately acceptance,” he told the New York Post.
The messages add another layer to an already complicated case.
Local prosecutors initially declined criminal charges after reviewing the police investigation. Cornell subsequently conducted its own extensive disciplinary proceedings, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to revisit the matter.
The latest texts may become important evidence as the case proceeds, but statements made after an alleged assault do not, by themselves, establish whether someone was capable of consenting during the encounter.
For now, the newly disclosed exchange places the woman’s initial description of the night alongside the substantially different account she later provided to investigators.
MY QUICK TAKE
Well, those are some interesting texts to have floating around in a rape case. Apparently, “our body, our choice” has become a rather complicated slogan at Cornell. The lawyers are going to have a field day with this one. And I suspect the screenshots will be getting a lot more attention than the university’s next diversity seminar.
