Second Cornell defendant asks court to take Letitia James off the Jane Doe investigation

A second ex-fraternity brother named in the Cornell Jane Doe matter now wants the state's top lawyer, Letitia James, pulled from her role leading the probe.

Teny Geragos represents Winston Lee. In court papers filed Friday she argues that James decided the outcome before the investigation even began.

The statement at issue

The filing focuses on a message James posted early on. In it she called what the young woman went through horrific and unacceptable. She also told survivors they were not alone.

Geragos describes those words as prejudicial public comments that break New York's professional conduct rules for lawyers. She says James and Gov. Kathy Hochul together created a clear appearance of impropriety. In her view that alone should force the attorney general to step aside.

Concerns about the grand jury

The motion goes further. Geragos claims the comments may have reached the grand jurors weighing the case. She says James publicly assumed the guilt of the people under investigation.

She wants the court to question the grand jurors to learn how much of the attorney general's commentary they saw.

A political appointment, the defense says

Geragos also calls the appointment a political move. She notes that Hochul named James during a tight race for governor in which her opponent has accused her of being weak on crime.

The request follows a similar one from lawyers for Gillio Lopes, another accused former fraternity member. His team asked the court to cancel the appointment or at least limit James' personal role.

No one has been criminally charged in the case and none of the allegations have been proven.