“七名男子给一名20岁女子下药并轮奸了她。”这起据称的康奈尔大学强奸案的结论来自众议员亚历山德里娅·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯。她与许多其他人一道，认定那些被控强奸同学的康奈尔大学学生有罪。
“Seven men drugged and gang raped a 20-year-old woman.”That verdict in the alleged Cornell rape case was delivered by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has joined a chorus of others in pronouncing the guilt of Cornell students accused of raping a fellow student.
需要注意的是，目前没有任何证人公开宣誓作证，也尚未提出任何指控。然而，那些惯于煽动舆论的人物和媒体现在却在集体宣判有罪，他们从不缺席任何一场舆论审判。
Mind you, not a single witness has testified under oath publicly and not a single charge has been brought. However, guilt is now being collectively declared from the usual figures and outlets who have never been late to mob justice.
奥卡西奥-科尔特斯宣称：“我想明确指出，强奸、性侵和恋童癖的文化在美国各地的精英机构中受到保护，在本案中也包括康奈尔大学。这种现象必须停止。”以前也发生过类似的事情。20年前，杜克大学学生被控在一次校园聚会上轮奸一名脱衣舞女。媒体迅速将达勒姆地方检察官迈克尔·B·尼丰格捧为英雄，因为他迎合媒体，将这些学生描绘成美国种族主义强奸文化的化身。
Ocasio-Cortez declared, “I want to be clear that the culture of rape, sexual assault, and pedophilia is protected in elite institutions across the United States and including Cornell University in this instance. It has got to stop.”We have been here before. Twenty years ago, Duke students were accused of gang raping a stripper at a campus party. The media quickly lionized Durham District Attorney Michael B. Nifong as he pandered to the media in portraying the students as personifying a racist rape culture in the United States.
问题在于，从一开始，事实就与指控不符，而且完全没有法医证据支持这一说法。克里斯塔尔·曼格姆后来承认自己撒了谎。
The problem is that, from the start, the facts did not fit the allegations and there was a total lack of forensic evidence to support the claim. Crystal Mangum later admitted that she had lied.
尼丰格被吊销了律师执业资格。曼格姆谎称这些学生有罪，却未因此被起诉，后来因谋杀罪入狱。
Nifong was disbarred and Mangum, who was still not prosecuted for lying about these students, later went to jail for murder.
那些宣布杜克大学学生有罪的政治人物和评论人士只是耸耸肩，便转向下一桩丑闻，要求人们立即作出未经调查的判断。
All the politicians and pundits who declared the Duke students guilty simply shrugged and moved on to the next scandal, demanding instant, uninformed judgments.
证词存在冲突——康奈尔大学案就是如此——并不意味着没有发生强奸。事实上，在我看来，这个案件的证据比杜克大学案更充分。不过，在了解更多情况之前，完全有理由暂缓下结论。
Conflicts in testimony, as there is in the Cornell case, does not mean that there was no rape. Indeed, this is a stronger case than Duke in my view. However, there is ample reason to withhold judgment until more is known.
我们所知的许多信息都来自一份长达101页的民事诉状。该诉状由代号为“多伊”的原告提交，被告包括康奈尔大学、兄弟会相关实体、7名个人被告及其他被告。
Much of what we know comes from a 101-page civil complaint filed by Doe against Cornell, fraternity-related entities, seven individual defendants and other defendants.
据称，这起强奸案发生于2024年10月19日晚。Doe承认，她当晚在女生联谊会宿舍大量饮酒，随后尽管尚未成年，又在几家酒吧继续喝酒。晚上11点左右，她前往Chi Phi兄弟会会所见一名朋友。她声称自己就是在那里被人下药并轮奸的。
The alleged rape occurred on the night of Oct. 19, 2024. Doe admits that she drank heavily at a sorority house and then, despite being underage, drank more at a couple of bars before, around 11 pm, going to the Chi Phi fraternity house to meet a friend. It was there that she claims to have been drugged and gang raped.
凌晨1点后，兄弟会成员发送的Snapchat聊天记录令人作呕且不寒而栗。兄弟会成员宣布，楼上有一名女子可以“免费”发生性关系，其中一人后来还问道：“店里还开着吗？”然而，案件中也有 allegedly victim本人作出的相反陈述，包括暗示她与最初两名男子发生性关系时是自愿的。
The Snapchat messages sent after 1 am from the fraternity brothers are disgusting and horrifying. Frat brothers announce that there was “free” sex with a woman upstairs, and one later asked, “Shop still open?”Yet the case also includes countervailing statements from the alleged victim herself, including suggestions that the sex with the first couple of men was consensual.
朋友们回忆称，Doe后来谈起此事时还笑称：“天哪，这不是太疯狂了吗？”（值得注意的是，有些朋友还说，他们认为Doe仍受到这段经历的创伤影响，尚未完全走出阴影。）后来，她还告诉女生联谊会的“姐姐”：“你们可能会听到一些关于我的传闻，很遗憾，那些传闻是真的。”10月22日和23日，Doe与其中一名男子 exchanged messages，后者对“事情最后发展成那样”表示后悔。两人都称，由于当时醉酒，他们对事情经过的记忆十分模糊。
Friends recounted that Doe later laughed about the incident and said, “Oh my goodness, isn’t that crazy?” (Notably, some also added that they believed Doe was still traumatized by the experience and had not fully processed it). She also later told her sorority “big sister” that “You may hear some rumors about me, and unfortunately they are true.”On October 22 and 23, Doe exchanged messages with one of the men who expressed regret about “how things went down.”Both said that their memory of what occurred was cloudy because they were intoxicated.
然而，她告诉他，“没有任何性行为是违法的。”据报道，她还表示，自己喜欢和他及另一名男子在一起，想过去后再吸一些，“但就别叫上那额外的50亿个男人，也别带氯胺酮了。”10月22日，Doe确实前往康奈尔大学健康中心就诊，被诊断患有尿路感染，并接受检测后呈性传播疾病阳性。
However, she told him “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal.”She reportedly added that she liked being with him and another man and wanted to come over and smoke more “but like leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine.”On Oct. 22, Doe did go to Cornell Health and was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases.
10月28日，据报道，多伊想去兄弟会的万圣节派对，她在兄弟会的朋友表示欢迎她，因为“兄弟会就是你的家，这里欢迎你。”她回复道：“谢谢，我真的很感激……我明天把烟带来。”
On October 28, Doe reportedly wanted to go to the fraternity’s Halloween party, and her frat friend said she was welcome because “chi phi is your house and you are welcome here.”She responded with “thank u i really appreciate … i’ll bring my cigs tomorrow.”
后来，兄弟会主席联系她，撤回了邀请。她愤怒地回复朋友：“我就知道会这样。女人永远都是吃亏的那一方。你们不是我的朋友。你们只是在替自己擦屁股。”11月7日，多伊接受了强奸取证检验（由于时隔太久，检验已无实际意义）。第二天，她向康奈尔大学警察局举报了据称的强奸事件。
Later, the president of the fraternity contacted her to rescind the invitation and she responded angrily to her friend that “I knew this was going to happen. The woman will always get the short end of the stick. Yall aren’t my friends. Yall are covering your asses.”On Nov. 7, Doe did seek a rape kit test (which was not useful after the passage of so much time). The next day, she reported the alleged rape to the Cornell University Police Department.
康奈尔大学当天迅速采取行动，暂停了Chi Phi兄弟会Xi分会的活动，并暂时暂停了七名男子在兄弟会的成员资格，这七人后来在她的民事诉讼中被点名。
Cornell then moved quickly that day to suspend the Xi Chapter of Chi Phi and temporarily suspended the seven men later named in her civil lawsuit.
多伊后来承认自己大量饮酒并使用毒品。她还说，自己可以接受最初的性行为，并补充道：“是的，在某种程度上可以接受。因为还是那句话，我到那里的时候已经醉得不省人事……不过，对这一切我确实还可以接受。”然而，她也表示：“我可以百分之百确定地断言，我遭到了强奸。”从法律角度看，严重醉酒和吸毒会削弱同意的有效性。尽管她承认自己的记忆“极其模糊”，但很难想象会有人相信，一名处于她那种状态的学生有能力给出知情同意。
In her later accounts, Doe admitted to heavy drinking and drug use. She also reportedly told investigators that she was okay with the initial sex, adding, “Yeah, as much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there … But I was pretty OK with all of this.”However, she also said “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”Legally, the extreme intoxication and drug use undermine claims of consent. While she admits that her memory was “super clouded,” it is hard to imagine anyone believing that a student in her condition was capable of giving knowing consent.
然而，这起案件存在一些明显的问题，这些问题很可能促成检方决定不提出刑事指控，也不将案件移送刑事处理。
However, there are obvious problems with the case, which likely contributed to the decision not to bring criminal charges or make a criminal referral.
在纽约州，其中一个门槛性问题将聚焦于她是否主动过量饮酒。与其他州一样，处于心智失能状态的人在法律上无法同意发生性行为，但法律对主动饮酒至失去行为能力的人设有例外。
In New York, one threshold issue will focus on her voluntarily drinking to excess. Like other states, a mentally incapacitated individual cannot legally consent to sex but there is an exception for those who voluntarily consumed alcohol to the point that they became incapacitated.
大约20个州存在类似的例外规定——即指控方必须证明，受害者因醉酒而丧失行为能力是出于非自愿的，例如被下药，或在不知情或未同意的情况下被灌醉。
Roughly 20 states have the same exception — where an accuser must show that her incapacity by intoxication was involuntary due to being drugged or brought to intoxication without knowledge or consent.
面对一位此前曾拒绝起诉（但如今重新开启案件）的检察官，霍楚尔州长谴责了该大学，并迎合其基本盘选民。她承诺亲自指派一名检察官。
Faced with a prosecutor who had previously declined charges (but was reopening the case), Gov. Hochul condemned the university and played to her base. She promised her own prosecutor.
随后，她挑选了那位在杜克大学案件中，其将政治置于检察公正之上的名声甚至超越尼丰的检察官：总检察长莱蒂西亚·詹姆斯。
She then picked the one prosecutor who surpasses Nifong in the Duke case in her reputation for putting politics ahead of prosecutorial integrity: Attorney General Letitia James.
詹姆斯当选时曾承诺将法律体系武器化，用以对付唐纳德·特朗普总统，并扬言将起诉特朗普，却未指明任何具体罪名。她被视为全国最具政治色彩的检察官之一，利用其职权针对右翼团体和个人展开行动。其前幕僚近日公开谴责她，称她将他们变成了“蒂什的私人律师……专门针对她的政治对手”。
James was elected on a pledge to weaponize the legal system against President Donald Trump, promising that she would prosecute Trump without specifying any crime. She is known as one of the most political prosecutors in the country, using her office to pursue groups and individuals on the right. Former staffers recently condemned her for converting them into “Tish’s personal attorneys … targeting her political enemies.”
霍楚尔任命詹姆斯，最大化了该案提起刑事指控的可能性。詹姆斯始终遵循《爱丽丝梦游仙境》中红心王后的政策：“先判刑，后审判。”
Hochul’s appointment of James maximizes the chances of a criminal charge in the case. James has always followed the policy of the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland”: “Sentence first, verdict afterward.”
乔纳森·特利是一位法学教授，也是《纽约时报》畅销书《愤怒与共和国：美国革命未竟的故事》的作者。
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”