'Cornell 7' Defendant's Lawyer Explains Why Scott Kretzschmar Went Upstairs After Vulgar Snapchat Message: 'He Was Looking for a Guy’

Jeremy Saland, an attorney for Scott Kretzschmar, said his client went upstairs at the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University to look for someone he had been with.

Saland also said Kretzschmar never touched Jane Doe, the former student who has filed a lawsuit alleging she was g----r---- in 2024 by seven former fraternity members, who have been dubbed the “Cornell 7” online.

Saland made the comments in his first prime-time interview on NewsNation’s Cuomo.

Saland told host Chris Cuomo that after Kretzschmar went upstairs to find a friend, then found nothing out of order and left. The lawyer added that Kretzschmar was in the room where the alleged assault took place only briefly, and that the woman appeared fine then.

"He was looking for a guy he was just with who had not come back to the room, and maybe he was there. And I will tell you again, because people don’t know the facts, and we have people online who not only had said that I should be r---- and killed, I received probably a couple hundred phone calls and messages today. They jumped to a conclusion without having any basis in reality and facts. So he goes upstairs, even if you want to think it was nefarious, there were people walking around outside, there were girls and guys. He walks in, and he’s no reason for alarm because she’s not naked. She’s not incapacitated," Saland stated.

“She was not undressed,” Saland added. “He didn’t see her under duress.”

Kretzschmar denies all allegations made against him, and Saland has said his client had already left before the alleged sexual assault took place.

The lawsuit alleges that at 1:42 a.m., one fraternity member sent a message to the chapter’s Snapchat group saying there was “free p----” upstairs.

A little later in the same conversation, a fraternity brother wrote, “Shop still open?” and the response was, “Yea,” according to video of the conversation obtained by CBS News New York for its report.

Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, said, “Multiple frat members knew about it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Saland acknowledged that Kretzschmar participated in the group Snapchat.

“While Scott responded to and made an immature comment on Snapchat, he did nothing else. Nothing,” Saland told TMZ. He also said the complaint was written to make it appear his client was accused of r---.

The complaint alleges that each of the seven men sexually assaulted or raped Doe, but the specific act it attributes to Kretzschmar is pouring ketamine onto Doe’s body and snorting it.

“Absolutely not. What you need to do is look at the demonstrable, objective evidence, which is a hair follicle test showing no, he had no ketamine in his system,” Saland responded.

On Wednesday, September 16, Doe filed her civil lawsuit against the seven men. Her complaint asserts that they drugged and sexually assaulted her at the Cornell fraternity house from the late hours of Saturday, October 19, 2024, through the next morning.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced on Monday, September 28, that his office would take the case to a grand jury. Charges were not filed in 2024 because, according to Van Houten, Doe’s initial statement to police “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual,” which is different from what she claims in her lawsuit.

Saland said Kretzschmar welcomes the new investigation, and he predicted it will end the same way the first one did, without criminal charges against his client, TMZ reported.

Kretzschmar graduated from Marine City High School in Michigan in 2022, and in response to online rumors about his connections in the state, the Sterling Heights Police Department said he has never worked for the city.

None of the seven fraternity brothers has been criminally charged as of yet. The lawsuit also names Cornell University and a sorority, among others, as defendants.