Cornell’s Jane Doe targeted in 'swatting' incident at parents' home, lives in fear, lawyer says

Following the incident, Cornell case defendant Winston Lee's attorneys filed a motion to recuse New York Attorney-General Letitia James from grand jury proceedings, NBC reported on Friday.

Cornell’s Jane Doe, the woman who alleged that she was drugged and raped by seven Cornell University students, was targeted in a police "swatting" incident at her parents' home on Tuesday, her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, told CNN on Thursday.

According to Giuffra, police entered the home after receiving a false report that “someone was killing people in the house,” drawing their weapons on Doe's family and her boyfriend.

Swatting is the deliberate, malicious act of falsely reporting a crime or emergency to trigger an aggressive law enforcement response, often involving a SWAT team. This response targets the victim's home or workplace, subjecting them to harassment and intimidation.

The false report, which was given to police at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, was that a man had shot and killed his mother before turning the gun on his sister, according to a police report CNN obtained. The officer who received the report then rushed to the home and stopped a vehicle carrying Doe's boyfriend and brother as it pulled out of the driveway.

Doe's father then came to the front door, identified himself to the officer, and asked what was happening. He told the officer that his family was “being threatened by numerous unknown people,” amid the Cornell case.

Giuffra: 'Somebody could have ended up dead,' luckily brother 'put his hands up'

Giuffra emphasized the good fortune that Doe's brother "put his hands up" when the officer stopped his vehicle, saying her boyfriend was "thrown on the ground."

“If you had a trigger-happy cop, or somebody had done the wrong thing, somebody could have ended up dead,” he said.

Giuffra noted that Doe, whom he described as "a little paranoid," spent Wednesday taping paper to the windows of the home “so people can’t see into her house to take a shot at her.”

"I don’t think she’s in a good spot now; she’s scared,” said Giuffra. "Before, it was just a lunatic fringe, which you can be dismissive of. Now it’s somebody taking real steps to harm you, and that’s pretty frightening."

Both the police and FBI are investigating the swatting incident, Giuffra said.

“I don’t get shook up very easily, but this shook me up," he said. "I didn’t want to have a body on my hands."

He added that Doe's father is "concerned" for her. "He can’t believe this has happened out of something where she’s just trying to stand up for herself and be heard, but the parents are really strong people, and they’re going to protect their daughter."

The lawyer noted that Doe "doesn’t seem to function well" when she is away from her family.

Cornell's Jane Doe receives threatening phone call while police still at home

In a further incident, while the police were still at her parents' home, Doe received a phone call that "wouldn’t stop ringing," causing her to "begin panicking," CNN reported, citing Giuffra and police reports.

“These people have done so much research,” Giuffra said, noting that his wife also claimed to have received a threatening phone call that same day.

In a call recording Giuffra shared with CNN, a man is heard identifying himself as "the person who called your client."

“I’m telling you guys simply, I think you should advise your client to withdraw the case," the man said. "Otherwise, blood will be shed."

New York A-G recusal sought by Cornell case defendant

Following the swatting and phone threat incidents, Cornell case defendant Winston Lee's attorneys filed a motion to recuse New York Attorney-General Letitia James from grand jury proceedings, NBC News reported on Friday.

Jane Doe accused Lee of unconsensual oral sex and snorting ketamine off of her body.

The attorneys, identified by NBC as Teny Geragos, Marc Agnifilo, and Jacob Kaplan, argued that the court has the ability to intervene in the grand jury process to ensure fairness.

A spokesperson for James' office told NBC that “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.”

Before her appointment as special prosecutor in the Cornell case, James called the allegations "horrific and unacceptable," according to NBC.

"To her (Doe) and all other survivors: You’re not alone," she wrote. "We stand with you.”