Lawyers for one of the men named in a civil lawsuit brought by a former Cornell University student who alleged she was sexually assaulted at a school fraternity in 2024 is asking a New York judge to impose a gag order in the case, arguing the publicity surrounding the case risks tainting potential jurors.
Attorneys for Diego Sarabia on Monday asked for “narrowly tailored restrictions” that would prevent lawyers and parties in the civil case from commenting on the allegations outside of court.
“Since this action began, Plaintiff’s counsel has repeatedly addressed the merits through widely disseminated media statements,” the motion said. “These statements present disputed allegations and interpretations of evidence to the public before discovery and trial.”
A then-undergraduate student identified only as Jane Doe made a complaint to campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the incident occurred, that she had been raped by a group of men at the Chi Phi fraternity house. She has filed a civil suit against the men and the university alleging that she had been drugged and raped.
No criminal charges have been filed, but an investigation by the New York attorney general is ongoing.
The case has rocked the university and started conversations about treatment of alleged sexual assault on college campuses across the country.
James Knox, an attorney for Sarabia, argued that a gag order would limit “possible juror prejudice” and prevent the potential release of sensitive information that could lead to ” threats, doxing, intimidation, and extrajudicial contact.” Knox also submitted to the court a list of what he described as “prejudicial statements” made by Thomas Giuffra, an attorney for Jane Doe.
“Plaintiff’s counsel has been trying his case in the media since filing the lawsuit,” the motion alleged. “A full cataloguing of the media tour he has engaged in would be far lengthier than necessary to establish the potential risks these statements are incurring upon the fair administration of justice in this case and upon the parties.”
In a statement responding to the motion, Giuffra said, “The Defense has tried to rebut the claims in this case by engaging in a wholesale leaking of confidential documents, giving interviews calling Ms. Doe’s story into question and calling her lawsuit immoral. These attempts to shift the narrative have not been successful.”
“The Defense is now attempting to silence me and Ms. Doe because we have been so successful in rebutting their ineffectual attempts to undermine her story,” the statement said. “Truth always wins out.”
Sarabia is accused in the lawsuit of grabbing and kissing Jane Doe before “pouring lines of Ketamine all over her body and snorting them.” He has denied wrongdoing, and according to Cornell documents reviewed by ABC News, he previously argued that the interaction was consensual.
Last week, a member of the Marine Corps who shares the same name as one of the defendants in the case asked the court to restrict some of the filings in the case because he and his family have been the subject of “continued and ongoing harassment, including death threats from members of the public.”
Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond agreed to seal some of the filings on Friday, condemning what she described as “misguided vigilantism.”
“This Court strongly condemns the reported acts of threats and doxing, which can only be characterized as brash, reckless, and ultimately dangerous internet vigilantism, ” the judge wrote. “Our society has developed procedures and legal mechanisms over the course of centuries to ensure justice and due process are afforded to all. When certain actors decide to work outside those robust and developed frameworks, innocent people often get hurt. That is precisely what has happened here.”
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