On the same day that Judge Aaron Persky handed Brock Turner a mere six month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, he gave another man “weekend jail” for brutally beating his former fiancee.
Just half an hour before the Stanford rape victim read her powerful impact statement to a California courtroom, another woman stood in the same room and shared a graphic account of her own abuse.
The unnamed woman — a Chinese immigrant in her early 30s — held up photos of her bloodied face and clothes, and her bruised body, while detailing a brutal attack by her ex-boyfriend, 37-year-old Ming Hsuan Chiang, according to the Guardian.
All the while Chiang sat just a few metres from her.
Despite pleading guilty to the domestic violence charges against him, including causing “serious bodily injury”, Judge Persky sentenced him to just 12 weeks of so-called “weekend jail” — so he could continue his job as an engineer in Silicon Valley.
Comparisons have been drawn with Judge Persky's lenient treatment of Brock Turner.
"Is this acceptable?" the woman said, describing her treatment as akin to "torture".
"Visible injuries can be treated, but invisible injuries sometimes can last forever."
According to police reports obtained by the Guardian, on October 6, 2014, officers were called to a house in Sunnyvale — which is nearby the Stanford campus in Palo Alto — after neighbours heard a woman screaming for help.
The victim was found with a swollen lower lip and blood across her face and told police Chiang had hit her five times, before she fell down outside the house.
He then continued to punch her while dragging her by her hair across the ground, brought her inside and continued to throw her around.
"He hit me nonstop," she reportedly told an officer at the time. "He was trying to kill me."
Chiang was facing up to four years in a state prison, instead he received just 72 days in a county jail, which he was allowed to serve on weekends only.
"I have evidence. I have witnesses. I have police reports. I have photos," the victim later told the Guardian. "If he had used more force, maybe I'd be dead or my brain would be dead."
"It's just like the Stanford case."
A thank you message to the Swedish men who helped the Stanford rape victim. Post continues after video...
Since the Brock Turner ruling, more 1.2 million people have signed a petition calling for Judge Persky to be recalled because he "failed to send the message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class, race, gender or other factors."
It appears it was not the first time.
Feature image: NBC