A second Cornell Chi Phi defendant, Winston Lee, asks a judge to remove Letitia James as special prosecutor.

Two of the seven men named in the civil suit now say the same thing: James decided the case in a Sept. 28 post before she was handed it. Lee's filing, from the Agnifilo Intrater team, asks a Tompkins County criminal court to keep her off a future grand jury. Lopes's petition is a separate civil challenge, set for Oct. 29 in Monticello. A Friday order sealing the civil complaint is about addresses on a docket. None of those papers is a ruling that removes James, and none of them is a criminal charge.

A second man named in Jane Doe's lawsuit over an alleged gang rape at Cornell University's Chi Phi fraternity house is asking a judge to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James from the case, ABC News reported Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. Winston Lee joined fellow Chi Phi brother Gillio Lopes in seeking James's removal as special prosecutor. NBC News reported the motion was filed in criminal court in Tompkins County by Teny Geragos, Marc Agnifilo, and Jacob Kaplan, and that it asks a judge to preclude James from conducting a criminal investigation into whether former Chi Phi members, including Lee, engaged in sexual assault in October 2024. NBC News reported the lawyers argue that the court can step in to protect the fairness of a future grand jury, that they want any future panelists polled on whether they know James's comments, and that they asked for arguments to be scheduled. In the filing, Geragos argued that James and Gov. Kathy Hochul "have together created a blatant appearance of impropriety" and that James "has already publicly prejudged the guilt" of the people she is investigating, ABC News reported.

"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," Geragos wrote, according to ABC News. "The AG is unquestionably biased, as her own public statements show." Like Lopes's petition, the filing points to a Sept. 28 post in which James wrote, "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." Hochul appointed James on Oct. 1, taking the case from Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.

A spokesperson for the attorney general's office told ABC News, "In this and every investigation, the Office of the Attorney General is committed to conducting a comprehensive review of nothing but the facts, the evidence, and the law." Asked Thursday evening about her post, James said, "Those comments demonstrate empathy, and what we need now more than ever in our body politic is more empathy." She added, "Politics stops at the door in my office. I can assure New Yorkers that we will engage in a thorough investigation, which will be based on the facts and the law, and guided by the evidence." Hochul has said she has "every confidence" James will "look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions."

Lopes's challenge is already on the calendar. Los Angeles Magazine reported that on Oct. 9, Acting Supreme Court Justice James R. Farrell signed an order to show cause directing lawyers for Hochul and James to appear for oral arguments on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. in Monticello, New York, with 30 minutes for each side. NBC News reported the same Oct. 29 hearing, for James's office to argue that the appointment should not be voided. It was not immediately clear whether Lee's Tompkins County motion will be heard with Lopes's petition that day. They are different courts.

The civil file moved the same Friday. Spectrum News reported Perry-Bond ordered the complaint and other filings sealed because they list addresses, including one that wrongly identified the home of a former Marine who is not a party, and that his family was flooded with threats. CNY Central reported the order directed the county clerk to seal four docket entries that contain personal identifying information. Finger Lakes1 reported Sunday that Cornell's trustees retained former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates of King & Spalding on Tuesday to examine the university's response, including the Jane Doe matter. That review is not this motion. The sealing order is not a ruling on James. No criminal charges have been filed.

The woman at the center of the case, identified only as Jane Doe, told Cornell campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the incident, that she had been raped by eight to 10 men at the Chi Phi house, ABC News reported. Her civil suit, filed in September, names Cornell, Chi Phi and seven fraternity brothers. Each of the men has denied wrongdoing, and none has been criminally charged. Lee, Lopes and the other men named in the suit are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. A filing asking for a new prosecutor is not a finding about what happened that night.