Know my Name. A Memoir. Chanel Miller. Horrific Sexual Assault. “Rape is rape.” Another Judge Protecting the Rapist. Magnificent Courage. Magnificent Writing.

You Know Emily Doe’s Story. Now Learn Her Name by Concepción de León, Sept 24, 2019, New York Times

For four years, the woman whose Stanford University sexual assault case caused a public outcry, has been known only as “Emily Doe.” In her new memoir, “Know My Name,” which charts her life since then, she reveals her real name: Chanel Miller.

In 2016, Ms. Miller’s case made headlines after BuzzFeed published the statement she read at the sentencing hearing for Brock Turner, the Stanford student convicted of the assault. [Read Ms. Miller’s Statement, please!]

Mr. Turner, then 20, was found guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault, for which the maximum sentence was 14 years. But the presiding judge, Aaron Persky, sentenced Mr. Turner to six months in county jail, of which he served three.

Judge Persky’s ruling drew criticism from those who viewed it as too lenient, and he was recalled by voters in 2018. [BRAVO!]

“I just remember being in my kitchen and reading this incredible, riveting piece of work,” Andrea Schulz, the editor in chief of Viking, the book’s publisher, said about reading the victim impact statement in the summer of 2016. Soon after, Philippa Brophy, a literary agent who represents Ms. Miller, contacted Ms. Schulz to say her client was interested in writing a book.

[ “As soon as you let a little bit of air in, the shame loses its power”: Read our profile of Chanel Miller. ]

“I jumped out of my chair to acquire it,” said Ms. Schulz, who declined to say how much Ms. Miller had been paid, “because it was just obvious to me from the beginning what she had to say and how different it was and how extraordinarily well she was going to say it. She had the brain and the voice of a writer from the very beginning, even in that situation.”

Although Ms. Miller’s case preceded the #MeToo movement, her statement and Mr. Turner’s sentence became part of the intense debates around rape, sexism and sexual misconduct over the past years.

In addition to the judge’s recall, the first time California voters took such an action in more than 80 years, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill imposing mandatory minimum sentences in sexual assault cases. Ms. Miller’s statement was read aloud on CNN and on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Ms. Miller started working on the book in early 2017, and since then it has shifted and expanded as conversations about sexual violence moved increasingly to the fore. The process of writing “Know My Name” was also, in part, a way for Ms. Miller to piece together the totality of what happened the night she was assaulted. She read pages of court documents and transcripts of witness testimonies she had not been allowed to hear during the trial. She and Ms. Schulz had weekly calls to discuss what Ms. Miller was discovering and how it would shape the book.

[ In her review of “Know My Name,” Jennifer Weiner calls the book “a beautifully written, powerful, important story,” and Chanel Miller “a treasure who has prevailed.” ]

The cover art for “Know My Name” is inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi or “golden repair,” in which broken pottery pieces are mended using lacquer and powdered gold. It’s a process that makes a new, beautiful object out of what’s been broken, emphasizing where it has cracked. The association is meant to represent Ms. Miller’s recovery, from the assault as well as the trauma of a trial, Ms. Schulz said.

“It is one of the most important books that I’ve ever published,” she added, because of its potential to “change the culture that we live in and the assumptions we make about what survivors should be expected to go through to get justice.”

“Know My Name” is scheduled to come out Sept. 24.

****

Tweet by Edmonton’s Julie Ali on a related matter:

Because of Conservative judges it’s pretty much assured that democracy is screwed in the USA and Canada.

*

I wholeheartedly and heart brokenly agree.

****

Light Sentence for Brock Turner in Stanford Rape Case Draws Outrage by Liam Stack, June 6, 2016, New York Times

A recall effort against a California judge was announced on Monday in a sexual assault case at Stanford University that ignited public outrage after the defendant was sentenced to a mere six months in jail and his father complained that his son’s life had been ruined for “20 minutes of action” fueled by alcohol and promiscuity.

In court, the victim had spoken out against the inequities of the legal process, arguing that the trial, the sentencing and the legal system’s approach to sexual assault — from the defense lawyer’s questions about what she wore that night to her attacker’s sentence — were irrevocably marred by male and class privilege.

The case, which had made headlines after the suspect was found guilty in March, began to seize the public’s attention anew after a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge, Aaron Persky, on Thursday handed the defendant, Brock Allen Turner, 20, what many critics denounced as a lenient sentence, including three years’ probation, for three felony counts of sexual assault.

According to the judge: “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.”

The next day, BuzzFeed published the full courtroom statement by the woman who was attacked. The statement, a 7,244-word cri de coeur against the role of privilege in the trial and the way the legal system deals with sexual assault, was provided by the victim and has since gone viral. By Monday, it had been viewed more than five million times on the BuzzFeed site.

Also on Monday, the CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield spent part of an hour looking into the camera and reciting the entire statement live on the air.

The unidentified 23-year-old victim, who was not a student of the university in Palo Alto, Calif., was attacked while visiting the campus, where she attended a fraternity party. In the statement, she spoke of drinking at the party, but not remembering the assault in January 2015.

She said she was told she had been found behind a Dumpster, and learned from news reports that witnesses had discovered her attacker lying on top of her unconscious, partly clothed body. The witnesses intervened and held the attacker for the police.

The judge, identified by The Guardian as a Stanford alumnus, handed Mr. Turner, a champion swimmer, far less than the maximum 14 years after he was convicted, pointing out that he had no “significant” prior offenses, he had been affected by the intense media coverage, and “there is less moral culpability attached to the defendant, who is … intoxicated,” The Guardian said.

The victim said Mr. Turner had admitted drinking, but still had not acknowledged any fault in the attack, insisting the episode had been consensual. She said the court privileged his well-being over her own, and in the end declined to punish him severely because the authorities considered the disruption to his studies and athletic career at a prestigious university when determining his sentence. She wrote:

The probation officer weighed the fact that he has surrendered a hard-earned swimming scholarship. How fast Brock swims does not lessen the severity of what happened to me, and should not lessen the severity of his punishment. If a first-time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be? The fact that Brock was an athlete at a private university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class.

Michele Dauber, a law professor and sociologist at Stanford, said Monday that she was part of a committee that was organizing a recall challenge to Judge Persky, whose position is an elected one. And by Tuesday, a Change.org petition calling for the judge’s removal had garnered over 240,000 supporters.

Professor Dauber said the judge had misapplied the law by granting Mr. Turner probation and by taking his age, academic achievement and alcohol consumption into consideration.

“If you’re going to declare that a high-achieving perpetrator is an unusual case, then you’re saying to women on college campuses that they don’t deserve the full protection of the law in the state of California,” the professor said.

On Sunday, Professor Dauber posted to Twitter a statement read to the court by the defendant’s father, Dan Turner.

Michele Dauber@mldauber

brockturner father: son not “violent” only got “20 mins of action” shouldn’t have to go to prison. @thehuntinground

Mr. Turner’s father said that his son should not do jail time for the sexual assault, which he referred to as “the events” and “20 minutes of action” that were not violent. He said that his son suffered from depression and anxiety in the wake of the trial and argued that having to register as a sex offender — and the loss of his appetite for food he once enjoyed [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] — was punishment enough.

Brock Turner also lost a swimming scholarship to Stanford and has given up on his goal of competing at the Olympics.

“I was always excited to buy him a big rib-eye steak to grill or to get his favorite snack for him,” Dan Turner wrote. “Now he barely consumes any food and eats only to exist. These verdicts have broken and shattered him and our family in so many ways.”

Brock Turner’s Statement

In his letter to the judge, Mr. Turner blamed a “party culture” and drinking at Stanford University for his actions in the sexual assault case.

In a statement, the Santa Clara, Calif., district attorney, Jeff Rosen, said the sentence “did not fit the crime,” and he called Brock Turner, who withdrew from Stanford, a “predatory offender” who refused to take responsibility or show remorse.

“Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape,” Mr. Rosen said. “Rape is rape.”

In an editorial, The San Jose Mercury News called the sentence “a slap on the wrist” and “a setback for the movement to take campus rape seriously.”

Judge Persky did not respond to a request for comment sent to Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday.

Stanford University said on Monday that it “takes the issue of sexual assault extremely seriously” and was proud of two students who intervened to stop Mr. Turner’s attack.

“There is still much work to be done, not just here, but everywhere, to create a culture that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form and a judicial system that deals appropriately with sexual assault cases,” the university said in a statement.

In his statement, Dan Turner said his son planned to use his time on probation to educate college students “about the dangers of alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity” so that he could “give back to society in a net positive way.”

The victim, however, rebuked that proposal:

It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a suggestion of promiscuity. By definition rape is the absence of promiscuity, rape is the absence of consent, and it perturbs me deeply that he can’t even see that distinction.

Correction: June 14, 2016
A headline last Tuesday with a capsule summary about the jail sentence for a former Stanford University swimmer, Brock Turner, misidentified the crimes for which he was convicted. As the article correctly noted, the three felony counts were sexual assault of an unconscious person, sexual assault of an intoxicated person and sexual assault with intent to commit rape; the case did not involve a “rape sentence.”

A version of this article appears in print on June 7, 2016, Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: Outrage Over Sentencing in Rape Case at Stanford.

****

Compare to judges, lawyers and the rapist protector “legal” club in Canada:

“Unf*ck the system.” Alberta’s Neanderthal “Justice” system assaults sexual assault victims. “The judge in this troubling case was none other than former Deputy Justice Minister Ray Bodnarek, a PC loyalist appointed as a judge by former PC Justice Minister Jonathan Denis who himself resigned under troubling allegations of domestic violence.” Commenter: “So who exactly is the crown protecting by blocking the publication of the victim’s name?” Another commenter: “My guess…..the ‘system’. It stinks and it’s all because of the judges & lawyers.”

What’s with so many judges not keeping their lips together? Protecting rape & pedophilia rings? How are citizens to trust & respect judges with so many bad lips on the bench? “That judge didn’t care about me,” Julie Kirby, 23, **one** of Keith Vallejo’s victims said Friday. “He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable.”

Non-Disclosure Agreements “are, indeed, an ugly instrument.”

How prevalent is racism (and misogyny) among Canadian lawyers & judges?

No wonder Canadian “justice” is so often misogynistic, racist &/or abusive. Looking in the mirror: Harassment in legal workplaces

Would Justice Robert Beaudoin have let the rapist off if his daughter was one of the women raped? Ontario Crown serves Paul Batchelor notice of appeal, claims trial judge made errors. Errors or misogyny?

Misogynistic Justice. Rapist after rapist set free by Canadian judges. Think those judges will let you seek justice if your water is frac’d by Encana, enabled, covered-up by authorities with AER violating your Charter rights trying to terrify you into submissive silence, enabled by Supreme Court of Canada?

Do you want fairness, equality, diversity, inclusion in Canada’s legal profession? In 2019, 85% of the legal profession in USA is white and mostly male. No wonder so many sexual assault victims are re-victimized in court and known convicted pedophiles are granted licence to practice law! No wonder our environment is underrepresented and unjustly served with vile demented gag orders.

Unbelievable Gall! No wonder Canada’s legal system is broken! Ex-Judge “sex hurts & why didn’t you keep your knees together” Robin Camp seeks to practise law again in Alberta

Oh Canada! Once-imprisoned lawyer (for child pornography) one step closer to getting his licence to practise law in Ontario, Two out of three lawyers on Law Society of Upper Canada tribunal decide he’s of ‘good character.’ Dissenting opinion finds Ronald Davidovic failed to prove he was rehabilitated.

MUST WATCH! ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ Sketch: “Judges: a danger to Canadian women”

Unprecedented yet far too late: 7 police agencies in Canada will let experts in sexual violence study uncensored case files on unfounded or inactive sexual assault investigations, “Right now, there is a bit of crisis across the country concerning victims’ confidence in the criminal justice system.” Surely they jest! “Justice” System? What “Justice?” There’s no confidence in Canada’s civil legal system either! Who’s going to investigate that?

Enabling sexual predators? Enabling Canadian judges revictimizing sexual assault victims? Enabling Canada’s demented abusive legal system? Threatening sexual assault victims to keep silent? Galling, throw-women-back-into-the-cave statements to Criminal Lawyers’ Association by Canada’s Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin

This entry was posted in Other Legal. Bookmark the permalink.