Tompkins County Prosecutor Matthew Van Houten declined to file charges after his office reviewed a six-page statement provided by Jane Doe, which the prosecutor said did not describe a potential crime. Records show Van Houten’s team did not review additional statements from Jane Doe and other interviewees.
Lawyers for two of the accused fraternity members have asked different state judges to disqualify James from leading the case on the grounds that past comments she made on social media in support of Jane Doe demonstrate prejudice and bias. These requests are pending.
James said her investigation would be fair and based on facts and that her remarks on social media, which were made before she was appointed to handle the case, were based on empathy for the accuser. The office “is committed to conducting a thorough investigation guided only by the facts, evidence and law,” James said in his statement announcing Kelly’s appointment.
The day James was appointed, her office said she needed to hire an outside lawyer to assist in-house lawyers in the investigation. Kelly is now preparing to bring in a team from her law firm, which she joined as a partner last year. Her biography states that she specializes in “large-scale regulatory or criminal investigations, as well as victims of sexual assault and other crimes.”
Kelly also worked on an indictment in New York against octogenarian fashion CEO Peter Nygard, who was sentenced in 2024 in Canada to 11 years in prison for sexual assault. The former prosecutor also handled a case against Ricardo Cruciani, a pain doctor accused of sexually abusing a number of patients in several states.
In 2025, Kelly oversaw the prosecution that led to Combs’s conviction for transportation to engage in prostitution but ended in his acquittal on more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The disgraced entertainment executive is serving a 50-month federal prison sentence.
One of the men charged in the Jane Doe trial, Winston Lee, is represented by Teny Geragos, who defended Combs at his federal trial.
Geragos declined to comment on Kelly’s appointment.
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