A second Cornell student accused in the Jane Doe case wants Letitia James removed as special prosecutor, citing bias and election-year politics.

Winston Lee, a Cornell University student and Chi Phi fraternity brother, joined fellow defendant Gillio Lopes in asking a judge to strip New York Attorney General Letitia James of her special prosecutor role in the high-profile campus case.

ABC News reported that Lee’s attorney filed the request Friday, shortly after Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James to investigate the allegations.

Lee’s lawyer argues the governor and attorney general created a blatant appearance of impropriety, publicly prejudged the accused, and turned a criminal investigation into a political stunt a month before election day.

The filing puts fresh pressure on James at a moment when critics already question her record and when voters are weighing who should hold the office, including in races where challengers aim to unseat her.

Attorney says James prejudged uncharged students

Lee remains uncharged. His attorney, Teny Geragos, stressed that point in the court papers and said an uncharged person presumed innocent should not face an investigator who has already endorsed the accuser and declared the accused guilty.

Geragos wrote that the governor and attorney general made repeated public statements, removed the matter from the elected county prosecutor, and prejudged guilt for political advantage.

In the filing, Geragos stated:

"This public political stunt by the Governor and the AG to make repeated public statements, remove the case from the elected county prosecutor, and prejudge guilt in a criminal investigation for political advantage a month before election day is unethical and in violation of the law,"

She added:

"The AG is unquestionably biased, as her own public statements show."

Geragos also argued:

"It is the height of unfairness that an uncharged person like Mr. Lee, presumed to be innocent, should be investigated by anyone -- much less the AG -- who has already publicly endorsed the purported victim and concluded the accused are guilty,"

Those claims land against a backdrop of other legal fights involving James, including cases where an appeals court voided an unlawful prosecutor appointment tied to probes around her.

Jane Doe’s 2024 report and the campus fallout

The woman at the center of the case, identified only as Jane Doe, is an undergraduate student. She told Cornell campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the alleged incident, that she had been raped by 8 to 10 men at the Chi Phi fraternity house on campus.

Lee and Lopes are named among the defendants in her lawsuit. Both are described as Chi Phi fraternity brothers. The information provided does not state that criminal charges have been filed against Lee.

On Oct. 5, 2026, protesters gathered in Ithaca, N.Y., against Cornell University’s handling of the 2024 fraternity-house gang rape allegations. Days later, Hochul installed James as special prosecutor. The appointment came last week relative to the Oct. 9, 2026, reporting on Lee’s filing.

That handoff drew sharp outside commentary when Hochul first gave James the file, including coverage noting how quickly the case moved after Hochul handed the Cornell matter to James.

James calls her comments empathy, not bias

James had posted on social media about the young woman at the heart of the allegations. The post read: "What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I'm holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you're not alone. We stand with you."

Asked Thursday evening about those comments, James defended them as empathy and insisted her office would judge the case without bias.

James said:

"Those comments demonstrate empathy, and what we need now more than ever in our body politic is more empathy. The governor of the great state of New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, assigned me to analyze this case and to judge it and to do it without bias. She's requesting an unbiased investigation and a thorough investigation, and we will do that based on the facts and based on the evidence."

She also said politics stops at the door in her office and pledged a thorough investigation guided by the facts, the law, and the evidence. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said the office is committed, in this and every investigation, to a comprehensive review of nothing but the facts, the evidence, and the law.

Hochul backed her attorney general. Following James’ social media post, the governor said she has every confidence James will look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions, and that is exactly what will happen in this case.

James’s insistence on impartiality comes as she continues to face separate legal and political headwinds, including appellate fights over efforts to revive criminal cases involving her.

Election timing sits at the center of the fight

Geragos framed the appointment and the public comments as a coordinated move for political advantage a month before election day. The filing asks a judge to remove James from the special prosecutor role on that basis, along with the claimed appearance of impropriety and prejudgment.

The elected county prosecutor is not named in the reporting. The precise court, judge, and docket number for Lee’s removal request are also not identified. The absolute calendar dates for the Friday filing and for Hochul’s appointment are given only in relative terms.

What is clear from the public record presented is the sequence: a November 2024 campus police report describing an alleged multi-perpetrator assault at the Chi Phi house; a 2026 protest over the university’s handling; a gubernatorial appointment of the state attorney general; social media comments from James embracing the accuser’s account; and now a second defendant’s formal bid to disqualify James before any charges against him are described as filed.

Lee’s papers treat the special prosecutor assignment as an end-run around the local elected prosecutor and as a public verdict issued before an investigation has run its course. James and Hochul treat the same steps as empathy plus a promise of a facts-only review.

Those two accounts cannot both fully describe the same conduct. Either the attorney general’s public embrace of the accuser and the governor’s eleventh-hour appointment leave the accused with a fair, neutral investigator, or they do not.

Presumption of innocence is not a slogan for campaign season. When a governor pulls a case from the local prosecutor and hands it to a statewide elected official who has already posted her solidarity with the accuser, defendants will test that move in court, and voters should watch whether the process still looks like justice or like politics with a badge.