A US woman whose Stanford University sexual assault case ignited international furore has revealed her identity ahead of publishing a memoir about the harrowing attack.
Chanel Miller, who was previously only known to the public as Emily Doe, was sexually assaulted by college swimmer Brock Turner at Stanford University in 2015.
The 27-year-old’s victim impact statement which was read in court at Turner’s sentencing went viral in 2016 and was viewed by millions.
“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,” she said, addressing Turner.
During the trial, the court heard Turner, then 20, attacked Ms Miller while she lay unconscious outside an on-campus fraternity house party in January 2015 before two cyclists intervened.
Photo released by the Greene County Sheriff's Office of Brock Turner. Source: Greene County Sheriff's Office
It wasn’t until Ms Miller woke up after the attack in a hospital that she learned the graphic details of the assault through news reports, including that she was found "behind a dumpster".
Turner was charged with sexual assault instead of rape, because although he digitally penetrated the woman, he did not have intercourse with her, and California law does not define that as rape.
He was sentenced to six months in jail - a penalty heavily criticised as a "slap on the wrist" - and served three months of the sentence, which included three years of probation.
The California judge who sentenced him to six months in jail was removed from office.
Turner was also required to register as a sex offender.
Brock Turner leaves the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose in 2016. Source: Bay Area News Group
Public outrage over the sentence was compounded by a letter from the athlete's father, read in court, that said his son should not go to prison and described the assault as "20 minutes of action".
Ms Miller’s memoir entitled “Know My Name” will be released later this month.
In the process of writing the book, the San Francisco resident read pages of court documents and transcripts of witness testimonies she had not been allowed to hear during the trial.
