Letitia James and the Cornell 7
What is New York Gov. Kathy Hochul thinking? Her decision to appoint state Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor in the case of seven Cornell male students alleged to have known of or engaged in the rape of a female undergraduate couldn’t be a worse decision for the cause of transparent justice.
As Justin Dillon writes nearby, Ms. James appears to have prejudged the evidence before she has seen it. “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” Ms. James wrote on Facebook before she was appointed by Ms. Hochul. “To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
That should be disqualifying on its face. A prosecutor is supposed to examine the evidence and make a judgment about whether a jury would find the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Ms. Hochul says she lost confidence in the local district attorney who declined to bring charges, but how can the public have confidence that Ms. James isn’t prejudiced against the male students?
