Vice President Kamala Harris has portrayed herself as a champion of women throughout her career, but that image is now in jeopardy with the election in just seven days.
Details of a horrific rape case plea deal brokered by the assistant district attorney while she was district attorney exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com calls into question her commitment to protecting women.
In 2008, Lillian Gradillas was sitting in a party bus late at night after she was not allowed into a nightclub because she lacked the proper identification to enter with the rest of her family and friends.
The driver, Gustavo Rosales, attacked Gradillas multiple times on the bus before forcibly raping her, despite her attempt to fight off his advances, according to court testimony.
At the time, Rosales was 'illegally in the United States, convicted of assaulting his spouse, evading his child support obligations and unqualified to operate a bus' according to the plaintiff complaint filed in a civil suit against the company.
Gradillas testified in the sentencing hearing, revealing the details of that night.
'I live with the constant reminder of that horrible night,' she said, describing it as her 'longest nightmare.'
She revealed she lost her job, suffered lower grades in school, and was heavily medicated while she struggled to hold her family together.
Rosales struck a plea deal with attorneys reporting to Kamala Harris and pleaded guilty to the crime.
As a result, Rosales was sentenced to just three years in prison.
The details of the brazen and frightening rape, including her personal testimony were not enough to earn Rosales a tougher sentence.
San Francisco's new district attorney, Kamala Harris, right, with her mother Dr. Shyamala Gopalan holding a copy of The Bill of Rights, receives the oath of office from California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George
Rosales was released early for good behavior in 2010, just one year after his conviction after earning over a year of time served since the initial 2008 arrest.
Sources told DailyMail.com that Rosales should have been sentenced to at least seven years in prison even in a plea deal, and could have easily been sent away to prison longer if he did have a prior domestic violence offense mentioned in the civil complaint.
'It's stunningly remarkable,' a lawyer familiar with the case said to DailyMail.com. 'It's so low.'
California State Representative Bilal Essayli told DailyMail.com that the sentence was 'extremely light.'
'This guy got the lowest possible sentence he could have for committing a rape and I don't how you justify that with his previous criminal conviction as well as his being in the country unlawfully,' he said.
The case and plea deal was filed and agreed to by assistant district attorney Adrian Ivancevich.
Typically, an assistant district attorney would be given assigned guidelines for plea deals, Essayli said, but anything out of normal would require Harris to personally approve it.
'Not matter what, she's responsible for every disposition that comes out of that office, because she's a leader of that office,' he said.
It is unclear where Rosales is today, as he was last reported in 2010 living in Sacramento according to documents.
DailyMail.com reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but didn't hear back.
Years later, the case brought to a civil court where Gradillas was awarded $2 million in 2012 for the incident after holding the business owner and the company insurance company liable, according to Courthouse News.
Comments
I honestly thought that ad was parody it was so gay.
The resemblance to the Tug leftards is uncanny.
It would seem to me that women that don't want to be raped by illegal aliens might have a problem with Ms. Self-Proclaimed Vicious Prosecutor.
https://ace.mu.nu/
Kamala Harris, Defender of Women
EDIT: Kamala Harris, Defender of Illegal Aliens who Brutally Rape Women
—Disinformation Expert Ace
She's a tough-on-crime prosecutor: