Photo: Instagram
She wants you to know her name.
By Rebecca Jane Stokes — Written on Sep 06, 2019
Brock Turner. It's a name you probably know or at least recognize from news headlines. Brock has been in the news cycle ever since he was accused, tried and convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow student at Stanford University. For years the victim of this crime has remained silent, minus one powerful but anonymous victim impact statement she shared at the end of the trial. Who is Chanel Miller? She's the woman Brock raped and she is finally ready to share her story in a new memoir hitting shelves at the end of September.
1. Meet Chanel Miller
In 2015 a woman was sexually assaulted by Stanford University swimmer and student, Brock Turner. Eventually, this anonymous woman who went only by the pseudonym Emily Doe, released a victim impact statement that rocked the world and had a major impact on the then-burgeoning #MeToo movement. Now, she's releasing a memoir and that's not all, she's also finally revealing her true identity, boldly stepping out from the shadows. The New York Times is reporting that Doe's real name is Chanel Miller. Her memoir, Know My Name, is going to be released on September 24th.
2. Her Victim Impact Statement
Miller made her in-person debut on 60 Minutes where she read an excerpt from her gut-wrenching victim impact statement: “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me. In newspapers, my name was ‘unconscious, intoxicated woman.’ Ten syllables, and nothing more than that. I had to force myself to relearn my real name, my identity. To relearn that this is not all that I am. That I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All-American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty with so much at stake," wrote Miller.
3. What Brock Did
In March of 2016, Brock Turner (20 when he raped Chanel) was found guilty of three charges related to his sexual assault of Chanel outside of a local fraternity more than a year after the assault took place. It was a case that should have been easy to prove for several reasons. Primary among them was the fact that Brock Turner was actually found on top of Chanel by two passing graduate students. When he saw them he tried to run away but the students grabbed him and made him stay until the campus authorities arrived. But the road to Brock's punishment wouldn't be a straight one.
4. The Fight In The Courtroom
You see, once the trial began Brock and his lawyers did everything in their power to implicate Chanel as the truly guilty party, rather than Brock, the assailant whose felonious actions were witnessed by multiple people. While Brock admitted to having "sexual contact" with Chanel, he denied it was rape, saying instead that their encounter had been one they both agreed to. Thankfully, the prosecuting lawyers were having none of it. Alaleh Kianceri, one of the prosecutors indicated that Brock not only KNEW that Chanel was drunk, but set out to use her body without her consent because of her intoxication. “He may not look like a rapist, but he is the face of campus sexual assault," she said.
5. The Judge's Ruling
Brock was eventually found guilty on all three counts, but the justice that Chanel and her family and friends hoped for wasn't going to be coming, at least, not any time soon. You see, while the prosecutors requested that Brock serve at least six years in jail, Judge Aaron Persky gave him a sentence of....SIX MONTHS. JUST SIX MONTHS! I'm still incensed about this. When asked why he made this statement, Persky said that spending a long time in jail would have a “severe impact” Brock. The rapist wound up being released after serving just three months, but in a win for the right side, the judge was the first in 80 years to be recalled from his seat not long thereafter due to the public outrage over the light sentencing.
6. Writing The Book
Not long after reading Chanel's eloquent and touching victim impact statement, Viking editor Andrea Schulz knew that she had to work with Chanel, so when the rumors started flying that Chanel was interested in writing a book, she did everything in her power to make sure that they worked together. “I jumped out of my chair to acquire it...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," said Schulz.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.