Pennsylvania. Every minute of the republican and democratic onties National Convention cspan, cspan radio, and www. Cspan. Org. This past week, a partisan a Bipartisan Group of lawmakers drew attention to campus sexual reading the statement by the victim of the stanford Sexual Assault case. The event began with congresswoman jackie speier, who began the reading. We are going to do something that has never before been done on the house floor. Sexual assault survivor who was attacked on the stanford campus last year. The sexual predator received a sentence of six months in county jail, of which he will serve only three. For committing a violent crime. We are not moved by the felons excuse of alcohol, we are not moved by the judge who said a longer sentence would have a, quote, severe impact, unquote, on the offender. We are not moved by the felons father who said that his son should not serve jail time for, quote, 20 minutes of action, unquote. Emily d. O. E. Is a survivor in every doe is a survivor in every sense of the word and her worded deserve to be amplified. Mr. Speaker, i words words deserve to be amplified. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous conentent consent that we read the statement in its entirety without yielding by name to each member to preserve the continuity of the reading. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Speier your honor, if its all right, for the majority of this statement, i would like to address the defendant directly. You dont know me. But you have been inside me. And thats why were here today. On january 17, 2015, it was a quiet saturday night at home. My dad made some dinner and i sat at the table with my younger sister who was visiting for the weekend. I was working full time and it was approaching my bed time. I planned to stay at home by myself, watch some tv and read. While she went to a party with her friends. Then i decided it was my only night with her. I had Nothing Better to do. So why not . Theres a dumb party 10 minutes from my house, i would go, dance like a fool and embarrass my younger sister. On the way there, i joked that undergrad guys would have braces. My sister teased me for wearing a beige cardigan to a frat party like a librarian. I called myself big mama. Because i knew id be the oldest one there. I made silly faces, let my guard down and drank liquor too fast. Not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college. The next thing i remembered, i was in a gurney in a hallway. I had dry blood and bandages on the backs of my hands and elbows. I thought maybe i had fallen and was in an admin office on campus. Ms. Clark he was very calm and wondering where my sister was. A deputy explained i had been assaulted. I still remained calm, assured he was speaking to the wrong person. I knew no one at this party. When i was finally allowed to use the restroom, i pulled down the hospital pants they had given me, went to pull down my underwear and felt nothing. I still remember the feeling of my hands touching my skin and grabbing nothing. I looked down and there was nothing. The thin piece of fabric, the only thing between my vagina and anything else was missing. And everything inside me was silenced. I still dont have words for that feeling. In order to keep breathing, i thought, maybe the policeman used scissors to cut them off for evidence. Then i felt the pine needles scratching the back of my neck and started pulling them out of my hair. I thought maybe the pine needles had fallen from a tree onto my head. My brain was talking my gut into not collapsing. Because my gut was saying, help me, help me. I shuffled from room to room with a blanket wrapped around me, pine needles trailing behind me, i left a little pile in every room i sat in. I was asked to sign papers that said, rape victim. And i thought, something has really happened. My clothes were confiscated and i stood naked while nurses held a ruler to various abrasions on my body and photographed them. The three of us worked to comb the pine needles out of my hair. Six hands to fill one paper bag. To calm me down, they said, its just the flora and fauna. I had multiple swabs inserted into my have a jigea and anus nikon na and anus, had a pointed right into my spread legs. My vagina smeared with cold, blue paint to check for brasions. After a few hours of this, they let me shower. I stood there examining my body beneath the steam, and the sided i didnt want my body anymore. I didnt know what had been in it. I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else. That morning, all that i was told was that i had been found behind a dumpster, potentially penetrated by a stranger, and i should get retested for h. I. V. Because results dont always show up immediately. But for now, i should go home and get back to my normal life. Imagine stepping back into the world with only that information. They gave me huge hugs and i walked out of the hospital into the parking lot wearing the new sweatshirt and sweat pants they provided me, they only allowed me to keep my necklace and shoes. My sister picked me up, face wet with tears and contorted in anguish. Immediately and instinctively i wanted to take away her pain. I smiled at her and said look at me, im right here, everything is ok. My hair is washed and clean they gave me the strangest shampoo, calm down and look at me. Look at these funny new sweat pants and sweatshirt, i look like a p. E. Teacher. Lets go home, lets eat something. She didnt know that beneath my sweat suit i had scratches and bandages on the skin. My vagina was sore, my underwear was missing and i felt too empty to continue ospeak. I was also afraid, i was also devastated. That day we drove home and for hours , in silence , my younger sister held me. My boyfriend didnt know what happened but called that day and said, quote, i was really worried about you last night you scared me. Did you make it home ok . End quote. I was horrified. Thats when i learn id had called him that night in my blackout, left an incomprehensible voice mail that we had also spoken on the phone but i was slurring so heavily he was scared for me and he repeat think told me to go find my sister. Again he asked me, what happened last night . Did you make it home ok . I said yes and hung up to cry. I was not ready to tell my boyfriend or parent that i may have been raped behind a dumpster but i dont know by who or when or how. Fi told them id see the fear on their faces and mine would multiply by tenfold. So i pretended the whole thing wasnt real. I tried to push it out of my mind but it was so heavy, i didnt talking didnt eat, didnt sleep. I didnt interact with anyone. After work, i would drive to a secluded place to scream. I didnt talk, i didnt eat, i didnt sleep, i didnt interact with anyone and i became isolated from the ones i loved most. Ms. Tsongas for over a week after the incident i didnt get any calls or updates about what happened to me. The only symbol that proved it hadnt been a bad dream was a sweatshirt from the hospital in my drawer. One day i was at work, scrolling through the news on my phone and came across an article. In it, i read and learned for the first time about how i was found unconscious with my hair disheveled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled over my shoulders and pulled above my waist, that i was butt naked all the day way down to my boots, legs spread apart and ben traited with a foreign object by someone i didnt recognize. This is how i learned what happened to me. Sitting at my desk, reading the news at work. I learned what happened to me at the same time everyone else that the world learned what happened to me. Thats when the pine needles in my hair made sense. They didnt fall from a tree. Hed taken off my underwear, his fingers had been inside me. I didnt know this person. I still dont know this person. When i read about me leek this, i said, this cant be me. This cant be me. I couldnt digest or accept any of this information. I could not imagine my family having to read about this online. In the next paragraph i read something i will never forgive. I read that according to him i liked it, i liked it. Ms. Waters again, i do not have words for these feelings. Its like if you were to read an article where a car was hit and found dented in a ditch, but maybe the car enjoyed being hit. Maybe the other car didnt mean to hit it, just bump it up a little bit. Cars get in accidents all the time. People arent always paying attention. Can we really say who is at fault . And then, at the bottom of the article, after i learned about the graphic details of my own Sexual Assault, the article listed his swimming times. She was found breathing, unresponsive, with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach, curled in fetal position. By the way, hes really good at swimming. Throw in my mile time if thats what were doing. Im good at cooking. Put that in there. I think the end is where you list your extracurriculars to cancel out all the sickening things that have happened. The night, the the night the news came out, i sat my parents down and told them that i had been assaulted. To not look at the news because its upsetting. Just know that im ok, im right here, and im ok. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because i could no longer stand up. The night after it happened, he said he didnt know my name. Said he wouldnt be able to identify my face in a lineup. Didnt mention any dialogue between us, no words, only dancing and kissing. Dancing is a cute term. Was it snapping fingers and twirling dances . Or just bodies grinding up against each other in a crowded room . I wonder if kissing was just faces sloppily pressed up against each other. When the detective asked if he had planned on taking me back to his dorm, he said no. When the detective asked how we ended up behind the dumpster , he said he didnt know. He admitted to kissing other girls at that party. One of whom was my own sister who pushed him away. He admitted to wanting to hook up with someone. I was the wounded animal of the herd. Completely alone and vulnerable, physically unable to fend for myself. And he chose me. Sometimes i think if i hadnt gone this never would have happened, but then i realize it would have happened, just to somebody else. Youre about to enter four years of access to drunk girls and parties and if this is the foot you started off on, then it is right you did not continue. The night after it happened, he said he thought i liked it because i rubbed his back. A back rub. Never mentioned me voicing consent, never mentioned us even speaking of back rubs. One more time in public news, i learned that my ass and vagina were completely exposed outside. My breasts had been groped, fingers had been jabbed inside me along with pine needles and debris. My bare skin and head had been rubbing against the ground erect a dumpster while an freshman was humping my half naked, unconscious body. But i dont remember. So how do i prove i didnt like it . I thought theres no way this is going to trial. There were witnesses. There was dirt in my body he ran but he was caught. Hes going to settle. Formally apologize. And we will both move on. Instead, i was told he hired a powerful attorney, expert witnesses, private investigators, who are going to try to find details about my personal life to use against me. Find loopholes in my story to invalidate me and my sister in order to show that this Sexual Assault was in fact a misunderstanding. That he was going to go to any length to convince the world he had simply been confused. I was not only told that i was assaulted, i was told that because i couldnt remember, i technically couldnt prove it was unwanted. And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told i was assaulted and nearly raped blatantly out in the open, but we dont know if it counts as assault yet. I had to fight for an entire year to make it clear that there was something wrong with this situation. When i was told to be prepared in case we didnt win, i said, i cant prepare for that he was guilty the minute i woke up. No one could talk me out of the hurt he caused me. Worst of all i was warned because he now knows you dont remember, hes going to get to write the script. He can say whatever he wants and no one can contest it. I had no power. I had no voice. I was defenseless. My memory loss would be used against me. My testimony was weak, was incomplete, and i was made to believe that perhaps i am not enough to win this. His attorney constantly remind the jury the only one we can believe in is brock because she doesnt remember. That helplessness was traumatizing. Instead of taking time to heal, i was taking time to recall the night in excruciating detail in order to prepare for the attorneys questions that would be invasive, aggressive and designed to steer me off course, to contradict myself, my sister, freased in ways to manipulate my answers. Ms. Chu instead of his attorney saying, did you notice any abrasions . He said, you didnt notice any abrasions, right . This was a game of strategy, as if i could be tricked out of my own worth. The Sexual Assault had been so clear, but instead here i was at the trial, answering questions like, how old are you . How much do you weigh . What did you eat that day . What did you have for dinner . Who made dinner . Did you drink with dinner . No. Not even water . When did you drink . How much did you drink . What container did you drink out of . Who gave you the drink . How much do you usually drink . Who dropped you off at this party . At what time . Where exactly . What were you wearing . Why were you going to this party . What did you cowhen you got there . Will you sure you did that . What time did you do that . What does this text mean . Who were you texting . When did you urinate . Where did you urinate . With whom did you urinate outside . Was your phone on silent when your sister called . Do you remember silencing it . Really, because on page 53 id like to point out that you said it was set to ring. Did you drink in college . You said you were a party animal. How many times did you black out . Id you party at frats . Are you serious with your boyfriend . Are you sexually active with him . When did you start dating . Would you ever cheat . Do you have a history of cheating . What do you mean when you said you wanted to reward him . Do you remember what time you woke up . Were you wearing your cardigan . What color was your cardigan . Do you remember any more from that night . No . Ok. Well. Well let brock fill it in. I was pummeled with narrow, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, ast life, family life, inane question, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even boston toring ask for my name. Ms. Eshoo after a physical assault, i was assaulted with questions designed to attack me. To say see, her facts dont line up. Shes out of her mind. Shes practically an alcoholic. She probably wanted to hook up. Hes like an athlete. Right. They were both drunk. Whatever the hospital stuff she remembers, its after the fact. Why take it into account . Brock has a lot at stake so hes having a really hard time right now. And then, it came for him to testify and i learned what it meant to be revictimized. I want to remind you the night after it happened , he said he never planned to take me back to his dorm. He said he didnt know why we were behind a dumpster he got up to leave because he wasnt feeling well. When he was suddenly chased and attacked. Then he learned i could not remember. So one year later, as predicted, a new dialogue emerged. Brock had a strange new story. Almost sounded like a poorly written young adult novel with kissing and dancing and hand holding and lovingly tumbling onto the ground and most importantly in this new story, there was suddenly consent. One year after the incident, he remembered, oh, yeah. By the way, she actually said yes. To everything. So, he said he had asked if i wanted to dance. Apparently, i said yes. He asked if i wanted to go to his dorm. I said yes. Then he asked if he could finger me. And i said yes. Most guys dont ask, can i finger you. Usually theres a natural progression of things unfolding consensually. Not a q a. But apparently, i granted full permission. Hes in the clear. Even in his story, i only said a total of three words. Yes, yes, yes. Before he had me half naked on he ground. For future reference, if you are confused about whether a girl can consent, see if she can speak an entire sentence. You couldnt even do that. Just one coherent string of words. Where was the confusion . This is common sense. Human decency. According to him, the only reason we were on the ground was because i fell down. Note, if a girl falls down, help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls down, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear and insert your hand inside her vagina. Tack tack if a girl mr. Takano if a girl falls down, mr. Takano if a girl falls down, help her up. If shes wearing a cardigan over her dress, dont take it off so you can touch her breasts. Maybe shes cold. Maybe thats why she wore the cardigan. Next in the story, two swedes on bicycles approached you. And you ran. When they tackled you, why didnt you say, stop, everythings ok, go ask her, shes right over there, shell tell you . I mean, you had just asked for my consent, right . I was awake, right . When the Police Arrived and interviewed the evil swede who tackled you, he was crying so hard he couldnt speak because of what he had seen. Your attorney has repeatedly pointed out, well, we dont know exactly when she became unconscious. And youre right. Maybe i was still fluttering my eyes and wasnt completely limp yet. That was never the point. I was too drunk to speak english, too drunk to consent way before i was on the ground. I should never have been touched in the first place. Barack stated, at no time broc kstated, at no time did i say that she was not responding. If at any time i thought she was not responding, i would ave stopped immediately. Heres one thing, if your plan was to stop only when i became unresponsive, then you still do not understand. You didnt even stop when i was unconscious anyway. Someone else stop you. Two guys on bikes noticed i wasnt moving in the dark and had to tackle you. How did you not notice while on top of me . You said you would have stopped and gotten help. You say that, but i want you to explain how you would have helped me step by step, walk me through this. I want to know if those evil swedes, if those evil swedes had not found me, how the night would have played out. Im asking you, would you have pulled my underwear back on over my boots . Untangled the necklace wrap around my neck . Closed my legs . Cover me . Picked the pine needles from my hair . Asked if the abrasions on my neck and bottom hurt . Would you then go find a friend an said and say, will you help me get her somewhere warm and soft . I dont sleep when i think about the way it could have gone if the two guys had never come. What would have happened to me . Thats what youll never have a good answer for. Mrs. Dingell thats what you cant explain, even after a year. On top of all of this, he claimed that i orgasmed after one minute of digital penetration. The nurse said that there had been abrasions, lass rations and dirt in my genitalia. Was that before or after i came . To sit under oath and inform all of us that, yes, i wanted it, yes, i permitted it, and that you are the true victim attacked by swedes for reasons unknown to you is appalling, it isdy meanted, is demented, is selfish, is danieling. It is enough to be suffering damaging. It is enough to be suffering. Its another thing to have someone ruthlessly working to diminish the gratitude of vappedity of this suffering validity of this suffering. My family had to see pictures of my head strapped to a gurney full of pine needles, of my body in the dirt with my eyes closed, hair messed up, limbs bent and dress hiked up. And even after that, my family had to listen to your attorney say the pictures were after the fact, we can dismiss them. To say, yes, her nurse confirmed that there was redness and abrasions inside of her, significant trauma to her genitalia, but thats what happens when you finger someone, and hes already admitted to that. To listen to your attorney attempt to paint a picture of me, the face of girls gone wild , if somehow that would make it so, that i had this coming to me. To listen to him say, i sounded drunk on the phone because im silly and thats my goofy way of speaking. To point out that in the voicemail i said i would reward my boyfriend and wed all know what i was thinking. I assure you, my rewards program is nontransferable. Especially to any nameless man hat approaches me. Ms. Kaptur he has done irreversible damage to me and my family during the trial. And we have sat silently, listening to him shape the evening. But in the end, his unsupported statements and his attorneys twisted logic fooled no one. The truth won. The truth spoke for itself. You are guilty. 12 jurors convicted you guilty. Of three felony counts, beyond reasonable doubt. Thats 12 votes per count. 36 yeses confirming guilt. Thats 100 unanimous guilt. And i thought, finally, its over. Finally he will own up to what he did, truly apologize, and we will both move on and get better. And then i read your statement. If you are hoping that one of my organs will implode from anger and i will die, i am almost there. You are very close. This is not a story of another drunk College Hookup with poor decision making. Assault is not an accident. Somehow you still dont get it. Somehow you still sound confused. I will now read portions of the defendants statement and respond to them. You said, being drunk, i just couldnt make the best decisions and neither could she. Alcohol is not an he can cuse. An excuse. Is it a facter . Yes, but alcohol was not the one who stripped me, fingered me, had my head dragging against the ground with me almost fully naked, having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that i admit to. But it is not criminal. Everyone in this room has had a night where they regretted drinking too much. Or know someone knows someone close to them has had a night where they regretted drinking too much. Regretting drinking is not the same as regretting Sexual Assault. We were both drunk. The difference is, i did not take off your pants and underwear, touch you inappropriately and run away. Thats the difference. You said, if i wanted to get to know her i should have asked for her number rather than asking her to go back to my room. Im not mad because you didnt ask for my number. Even if you did know me, i would not want to be in this situation. My own boyfriend knows me, but if he asked to finger me behind a dumpster, i would slap him. No girl wants to be in this situation. Nobody. I dont care if you know their phone number or not. You said, i stupidly thought it was ok for me to do what everyone around me was doing, which was drinking. I was wrong. Again, you were not wrong for drinking. Everyone around you was not Sexual Assaulting me. You were wrong for doing what nobody else was doing. Ms. Gabbard which was pushing your erect dick in your pants against my naked, defenseless body, concealed in a dark where arey party goers could no longer see or protection me protect me and my own sister could not find me. Sipping fireball is not your crime. Peeling off and discarding my underwear like a Candy Wrapper to insert your finger into my body is where you went wrong. Why am i still explaining this . You said during the trial, i didnt want to victimize her at all. That was just my attorney. And his way of approaching the case. Your attorney is not your scapegoat. He represents you. Did your attorney say some incredulously infuriating, degrading things . Absolutely. He said you had an erection because it was cold. You said, youre in the process of establishing a program for high school and College Students in which you speak about your experience to, quote, speak out against the College Campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that. End of quote. Campus drinking culture. Thats what were speaking out against . You think thats what ive spent the past year fighting for . Not awareness about campus Sexual Assault or rape or learning to recognize consent, campus drinking culture. Down with jack daniels. Down with sky vodka. If you want to talk to people about drinking, go to an a. A. Meeting. You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone . Show men how to respect women. Not how to drink less. Drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity thatty that goes along with that. Goes along with that. Like a side effect. Like fries on the side of your order. Where does promiscuity even come into play . I dont see headlines that read, brock turner, guilty of drinking too much and sexual promiscuity that goes along with that. Campus Sexual Assault. Theres your First Power Point slide. Rest assured, if you fail to fix the topic of your talk, i will follow you to every school you go to and give a followup resentation. Mr. Poe lastly, you said, i want to shee people that one night of drinking can ruin a life. One life, a life, yours, you forgot about mipe. Let me rephrase it for you. I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, i am the effect. You have dragged me through this hell with you. Dipped me back into that night again and again and again. You knocked down both of our towers. I collapsed at the same time you did. If you think i was spared, came out unscathed, that today i ride off into the sunset while you suffer the greatest blow, you are mistaken. My independence, my natural joy , gentleness and steady lifestyle that i had been enjoying became distorted because of recognition. Became closed off, angry, selfdeprecating, tired, irritable, empty, the isolation at times was unbearable. You cannot get me back the life i had before that night either. While you worry about your shattered reputation, i refrigerated spoons every night so that when i woke up and my eyes were puffy from crying, i could hold a spoon on my eye to lessen the swelling. So i could see. I showed up an hour late to work every morning and excused myself to cry in the stairwells. I can tell you all the best places in that building to cry where no one can hear you. The pain became so bad that i had to explain the private details to my boss to let her know why i was leaving. I needed time because continuing day to day was just not possible. I used my savings to go away as far as i could. I did not return to work fulltime because full time because i knew id have to take weeks off in the future for the hearing and the trial. That were constantly being rescheduled. My life was put on hold for over a year, my structure had collapsed. I cant sleep alone at night without having the light on. Like a 5yearold. Because i have nightmares of being touched where i cannot wake up. I did this thing where i waited until the sun came up and i felt safe enough to go to sleep. For three months i went to bed at 6 00 in the morning. Nobody wins. We all have been devastated. We all have been trying to find some meaning in all of this suffering. Your damage was concrete. Stripped of your titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal. Unseen. I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice. Until today. See, one thing we have in common is that we are both unable to get up in the morning. Im no stranger to suffering. You made me a victim. In newspapers my name was unconscious intoxicated woman. 10 syllables, nothing more than that. For a while i believed that, thats all i was. I had to force myself to relearn my real name, my identity, to relearn that this is not all that i am. That im 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. I am a human being. Who has been irreversibly hurt. My life was put on hold for over a year. Waiting to figure out if i was worth something. I used to pride myself on my independence. Now im afraid to go on walks in the evening, to attend social events with drinking among friends where i should be comfortable. I have become a little barnacle, always needing to be at someones side. To have my boyfriend standing next to me, sleeping beside me, protecting me. It is embarrassing, how feeble i feel, how timidly i move through life. Always guarded, ready to defend myself, ready to be angry. You have no idea how hard i was worked to rebuild parts of me that are still weak. It took me eight months to even talk about what happened to me. I could no longer connect with friends, with everyone around me. I would scream at thinkmy boyfriend , my own family whenever they brought this up. You never let me forget what happened to me. At the end of the hearing, the trial, i was too tired to speak. I would leave drain, silent. I would go home, turn off my phone and for days i would not speak, you bought me a ticket to a planet where i lived by myself. Every time a new article came out, i lived with the paranoia that my entire hometown would find out and know me as the girl who got assaulted. I didnt want anyones pity and im still learning to accept victim as part of my identity. You made my own hometown an uncomfortable place to be. You cannot give me back my sleepless night the way i have broken down sobbing uncontrollably if im watching a movie and a woman is harmed. Mr. Swalwell to say it lightly this experience has expanded my empathy for victims. I have lost weight from stress. When people commented, i said im running a lot lately. There are times i dont want to be touched. I have to relearn im not fragile, im capable, im wholesome, not just livid and weak. When i see my younger sister hurt, when she is unable to keep up in school, when shes deprived joy, when shes not sleep, when shes crying so hard on the phone shes barely breathing, telling me over and over again shes sorry for leaving me alone that night. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. When she feels more guilt than you. Then i do not forgive you. That night i had called her to try to find her but you found me first. Your attorneys closing statement began, in quotes, her sister said she was fine and who knows her better than her sister, end quote. You tried to use my own sister against me. Your points of attack were so weak. So low. It was almost embarrassing. You do not touch her. You should have never done this to me. Secondly, you should have never made me fight so long to tell you you should have never done this to me. But here we are. The damage is done. No one can undo it. And now we both have a choice. We can let this destroy us, i can remain angry and hurt and you can be in denial. Or we can face it head on. I accept the pain, you accept the punishment, and we move on. Your life is not over. You have decades of years ahead to rewrite your story. The world is huge, it is so much bigger than pa la alto an stanford. And you will make a place for yourself in it where you can be useful and happy, but right now you do not get to shrug your shoulders and be confused anymore. You do not get to pretend there were no red flags. You have been convicted of violating me, intentionally, forcibly, sexually, with malicious intent and all you can admit to doing is consuming alcohol . Do not talk about the sad way your life was upturned because alcohol made you do bad things. Figure out how to take responsibility for your own conduct. Now, to address the sentencing. When i read the probation officers report, i was in isbelief, consumed by anger. Which eventually quieted down to profound sadness. My statements have been slimmed down to distortion and taken out of context. I fought hard during this trial and will not have the outcome minimized by a probation officer who attempted to evaluate my current state and my wishes in a 15minute conversation. Ms. Sanchez the majority of which was spent answering questions i had about the legal system. The context is also important. Brock has yet to issue a statement and i had not read his remarks. My life has been on hold for over a year. A year of anger and anguish and uncertainty. Until a jury of my peers rendered a judgment that validated the injustices i had endured. Had brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, i would have considered a lighter sentence. Respecting his honesty. Grateful to be able to move our lives forward. Instead, he took the risk of going to trial, added insult to injury, and forced me to relive the hurt as details about my personal life and Sexual Assault were brutally dissected before the public. He pushed me and my family through a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering. And he should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, and of making us wait so long. Issue so long for justice. I told the probation officer that i do not want brock to rot away in prison. I did not say he does not deserve to be behind bars. The probation officers recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft time out. A mockery. A mockery of the seriousness of his assault, an insult to me and all women. It gives a message that a stranger can be inside you without proper consent and he will receive less than what has been defined as the minimum sentence. Mrs. Davis probation should be denied. I also told the probation officer that what i truly wanted was for brock to get it. To understand. And admit to his wrongdoing. Unfortunately, after reading the defendants report, i am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial. But even after 12 jurors unanimously convicted him guilty f three felonies, all he has admitted is doing all he has admitted doing is ingesting alcohol . Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence. It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a. Uggestion of promiscuity by definition, rape is not the absence of promiscuity. Rape is the absence of consent. And it perturbs me deeply that he cant even see that distinction. The probation officer factored in that the defendant is youthful and has no prior convictions. In my opinion, hes old enough to know what he did was wrong. When you are 18 in this country, you can go to war. When you are 19, you are old enough to pay the consequence for attempting to rape someone. He is young. But he is old enough to know better. As this is his first offense, i can see where leniency would beckon. On the other hand, as a society, we cannot forgive everyones first Sexual Assault or digital rape. Mr. Gosar it doesnt make sense. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly. We should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error. The consequences of Sexual Assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even if they are drunk. Severe enough to be preventive. The probation officer weighed the fact that he has surrendered a hardearned swimming scholarship how much fast brock swims does not lessen the severity of what happened to me and should not lessen the severity of his punishment. If a firsttime offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would be his sentence . 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. The plobation officer has stated that this case, when compared to other crimes of similar nature may be considered less serious due to the defendants level of intoxication. It felt serious, thats all im going to say. What has he done to demonstrate that he deserves a break . He has only apologized for drinking and has yet to define what he did to me as Sexual Assault. He has revictimized me continually, relentlessly. He has been found guilty of three serious felonies and its time for him to accept the consequences of his actions. He will not be quietly excused. He is a lifetime sex registrant. That doesnt expire. Just like what he did to me doesnt expire. Doesnt just go away after a set number of years. It stays with me. Its part of my identity. It has forever changed the way i carry myself the way i live, the the way i live the rest of my life. To conclude, i want to say thank you to everyone from the intern who made me oatmeal when i woke up at the hospital that morning, to the deputy who waited beside me, to the nurses who calmed me, to the detective who listened to me and never judged me. Ms. Kuster to my advocates who stood unwaveringly beside me. To my therapist who taught me to find courage in vulnerability. To my boss, for being kind and understanding. To my incredible parents, who teach me how to turn pain into strength. To my grandma, who snuck chocolate into the courtroom throughout this to give to me. My friends, who remind me how to be happy. To my boyfriend, who is patient and loving. To my uncomparable sister, who is the other half of my heart. Alaila, my idol, who fought tirelessly and never doubted me. Mr. Gohmert thank you to everyone involved in the trial for their time and attention. Thank you to girls across the nation that wrote cards to my d. A. To give to me. So many strangers who cared for me. Most importantly, thank you to the two men who saved me. Who i have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that i drew taped above my head bf my bed to remind above my bed to remind myself that there are heros in this story, that we are looking out for one another. To have known all these people, to have felt their protection and love is something i will ever forget. Ms. Speier and finally, to girls everywhere, i am with you. On nights when you feel alone, i am with you. When people doubt you, or dismiss you, i am with you. I fought every day for you, so never stop fighting. I believe you. As the author anne lamott once wrote, lighthouses dont go running all over the island looking for boats to save they just stand there shining. Although i cant save every boat, i hope that by speaking today, you absorb a small amount of light, a small knowing that you cant be silenced. A small satisfaction that justice was served. A small assurance that we are getting somewhere. And a big, big knowing that you are important. Unquestionably. You are untouchable. You are beautiful. You are to be valued, respected, undeniably, every minute of every day, you are powerful and nobody can take that away from you. To girls everywhere, i am with you. Thank you. Members will also vote to authorize the construction of seven medical facilities. You can watch the house live here on cspan. The senate is back tomorrow with procedural go that procedural vote on gun related amendments. And delaying the purchase of a on a government nofly list. You can see those tomorrow life beginning at 5 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Of theup, in the wake orlando mass shooting and this ,ubsequent filibuster congressional reporter for the Washington Post talks about the schedule this week in congress, including Senate Actions on gun control. Then representative mark meadows, republican from North Carolina and chair of the operations subcommittee, talks the orlando mass shooting, and the 2016 president ial campaign. And democratic congressman from texas, cochair of the Voting Rights caucus on new efforts to strike down voter id laws. And to update the Voting Rights act. And we will talk with the atlantics Marilyn Thompson fun, designedtion to help Candidates Fund their campaigns, yet 300 Million Dollars is untouched due to Campaign Finance laws. Be sure to watch washington journal. Join the discussion. Cia director john brennan spoke to lawmakers about the agencys operations at a recent Senate Intelligence hearing. The cia had Resources Available to address cyber security, terrorism, and other threats. This is just under two hours