Tompkins County District Attorney Matt Van Houten stated that Jane Doe's original police statement described her drug use and sexual activity as voluntary and consensual.
Posted by Behind the Bastards, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
Behind the BastardsOct 3, 2026
Multiple tier1 sources, including the Tompkins County DA's own primary statement, confirm Van Houten said Jane Doe's sworn November 2024 statement described her drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual. The extraction's 'at least some of' wording is consistent with the passage, and the 'Tomkins' spelling is a trivial misspelling of the county name.
The guest relays this claim without endorsing it. It counts as passed on, not against the post.
What was said
… Three weeks later, on November 8, Jane Doe goes to the Cornell University Police, and, you know, I don't make anybody surprised to hear that, in situations like this, there's always some victim blaming fuckery. So here is some victim blaming fuckery. So that do nothing DA, the Tomkins County District Attorney, Matt Van Houten, said that Jane Doe's original statement to the police described at least some of her drug use and sexual activity that night as voluntary and consensual. That's his words. In our mind, he says that that was a major reason that his office determined, at the time, that there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges. So when I heard that, I kinda did that Scooby do, like, ah, like, what? …
Behind the Bastards · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The Tompkins County DA's official statement says Jane Doe's sworn statement 'described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.'[4]
Supports. Reuters and Snopes both report Van Houten making the same characterization of the woman's sworn statement, matching the claim's core assertion.[1][2]
Supports. AP reports Van Houten's statement that the woman's participation in drug use and sex was 'voluntary, conscious and consensual', based on the police summary.[3]
Context. The woman's lawyer and CBS/CNN reporting dispute that the six-page summary captured her full account, including her statement that she was 'raped', but do not contradict what Van Houten said the statement described.[3][5][6][7]
Sources
7 sources: 3 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 3 tier 2
- 1What we know about the Cornell University rape investigationreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2'Cornell 7' gang rape lawsuit: What we know about the ...snopes.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Cornell gang-rape accuser was 'misled' about criminal investigation, her lawyer saysapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 4District Attorney statement re: Jane Doe v. Cornell ...tompkinscountyny.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 5Cornell police report omitted student's claim she was rapednytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
- 6Details emerge in case of former Cornell student alleging ...cbsnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
- 7Cornell: What Jane Doe told investigators in 2024 prompts ...cnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- Matt Van Houten stated that Jane Doe gave police a comprehensive statement and made more than 20 handwritten corrections to that statement before signing it.True
- Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced the reopening of a criminal investigation into the Cornell University sexual assault allegations on September 28, 2026.True
- Tompkins County District Attorney Matt Van Houten described Snapchat messages related to the Cornell assault case as morally disgusting.True
- Jane Doe reported the alleged assault to the Cornell University Police on November 8, 2024.True
- Under New York State law, voluntary intoxication does not by itself legally establish that a person was incapable of consenting to sex.True