Legal professionals for one of many males named in a civil lawsuit introduced by a former Cornell College pupil who alleged she was sexually assaulted at a faculty fraternity in 2024 is asking a New York choose to impose a gag order within the case, arguing the publicity surrounding the case dangers tainting potential jurors.
Attorneys for Diego Sarabia on Monday requested for “narrowly tailor-made restrictions” that may forestall legal professionals and events within the civil case from commenting on the allegations outdoors of courtroom.
“Since this motion started, Plaintiff’s counsel has repeatedly addressed the deserves by broadly disseminated media statements,” the movement mentioned. “These statements current disputed allegations and interpretations of proof to the general public earlier than discovery and trial.”
A then-undergraduate pupil recognized solely as Jane Doe made a criticism to campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the incident occurred, that she had been raped by a group of men on the Chi Phi fraternity home. She has filed a civil swimsuit in opposition to the lads and the college alleging that she had been drugged and raped.
No legal costs have been filed, however an investigation by the New York lawyer basic is ongoing.
The case has rocked the college and began conversations about treatment of alleged sexual assault on school campuses throughout the nation.
James Knox, an lawyer for Sarabia, argued {that a} gag order would restrict “doable juror prejudice” and stop the potential launch of delicate data that might result in ” threats, doxing, intimidation, and extrajudicial contact.” Knox additionally submitted to the courtroom an inventory of what he described as “prejudicial statements” made by Thomas Giuffra, an lawyer for Jane Doe.
Pupil Isabel Breslin works on her laptop computer throughout a sit-in protest at Cornell College, Oct. 7, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y.
Ryan Murphy/Getty Photographs
“Plaintiff’s counsel has been attempting his case within the media since submitting the lawsuit,” the movement alleged. “A full cataloguing of the media tour he has engaged in can be far lengthier than essential to determine the potential dangers these statements are incurring upon the truthful administration of justice on this case and upon the events.”
In a press release responding to the movement, Giuffra mentioned, “The Protection has tried to rebut the claims on this case by partaking in a wholesale leaking of confidential paperwork, giving interviews calling Ms. Doe’s story into query and calling her lawsuit immoral. These makes an attempt to shift the narrative haven’t been profitable.”
“The Protection is now making an attempt to silence me and Ms. Doe as a result of we’ve been so profitable in rebutting their ineffectual makes an attempt to undermine her story,” the assertion mentioned. “Reality at all times wins out.”
Sarabia is accused within the lawsuit of grabbing and kissing Jane Doe earlier than “pouring traces of Ketamine throughout her physique and snorting them.” He has denied wrongdoing, and in accordance with Cornell paperwork reviewed by ABC Information, he beforehand argued that the interplay was consensual.
Final week, a member of the Marine Corps who shares the identical title as one of many defendants within the case requested the courtroom to limit among the filings within the case as a result of he and his household have been the topic of “continued and ongoing harassment, together with loss of life threats from members of the general public.”
Decide Phaedra Perry-Bond agreed to seal among the filings on Friday, condemning what she described as “misguided vigilantism.”
“This Courtroom strongly condemns the reported acts of threats and doxing, which might solely be characterised as brash, reckless, and in the end harmful web vigilantism, ” the choose wrote. “Our society has developed procedures and authorized mechanisms over the course of centuries to make sure justice and due course of are afforded to all. When sure actors determine to work outdoors these sturdy and developed frameworks, harmless folks usually get damage. That’s exactly what has occurred right here.”
