The victim of a 2015 sexual assault at Stanford University said Tuesday that she's remaining anonymous not only to safeguard her privacy, but also to let her story speak for women everywhere.
In an appearance on CNN's "Legal View" with host Ashleigh Banfield, the prosecutor in the case against Brock Turner, who was found guilty last week on three counts of sexual assault behind a dumpster on campus last year, read a new statement from Turner's victim highlighting the power she's found in keeping her name out of the story.
"I remain anonymous, yes to protect my identity, but it is also a statement that all of these people are fighting for someone that they don't know," prosecutor Alaleh Kianerci read on behalf of the victim. "That's the beauty of it. I don't need labels, categories, to prove I'm worthy of respect, to prove I should be listened to. I'm coming out to you simply as a woman, wanting to be heard. Yes, there's plenty more that I'd like to tell you about me. For now, I'm every woman."
Last week, the victim released a roughly 7,000-word statement that she read in court after Turner was sentenced to just six months in county jail. Millions of people have read the statement, which detailed her experience of going to a party with her sister, waking up covered in dried blood and bandages, discovering that Turner had sexually assaulted her behind a dumpster while she was unconscious and suffering through a yearlong court battle in which Turner denied all responsibility.
"I was the wounded antelope of the herd, completely alone and vulnerable, physically unable to fend for myself, and he chose me," she wrote in her original statement. "Sometimes I think, if I hadn’t gone, then this never would’ve happened. But then I realized, it would have happened, just to somebody else."
You can read the entire statement here:
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