Vice President Kamala Harris has presented herself as a champion of women throughout her career, but that image is now in jeopardy with the election coming up in just seven days.
Details of a horrific plea deal in a rape case negotiated by the assistant district attorney while she was district attorney and obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com call into question her commitment to protecting women.
In 2008, Lillian Gradillas was sitting on a party bus late at night after she was not allowed into a nightclub because she did not have the proper identification to enter with the rest of her family and friends.
The driver, Gustavo Rosales, He attacked Gadillas several times on the bus before forcibly raping her, despite her attempt to reject 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 not being qualified to operate a bus,” according to the complaint filed in a civil suit against the company.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on October 28 in Michigan
Gradillas testified at the sentencing hearing, revealing the details of that night.
“I live with the constant reminder of that horrible night,” he said, describing it as his “longest nightmare.”
She revealed that she lost her job, had lower grades in school, and was heavily medicated as she struggled to keep her family together.
Rosales reached an agreement with Kamala Harris’s lawyers and pleaded guilty to the crime.
As a result, Rosales was sentenced to only three years in prison.
The details of the brazen and terrifying rape, including her personal testimony, were not enough for Rosales to receive a harsher sentence.
Vice President Kamala Harris has presented herself as a champion of women throughout her career.
New San Francisco 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 a year into his conviction, after serving more than a year of his sentence since his initial arrest in 2008.
Sources told DailyMail.com that Rosales should have been sentenced to at least seven years in prison even in a plea deal, and could easily have been sent to prison for longer if he had a previous domestic violence offense mentioned. in the civil complaint.
“It’s astonishingly remarkable,” a lawyer familiar with the case told DailyMail.com. “It’s so low.”
Kamala Harris meets with supporters in front of the 24th Street BART station while campaigning
The cover of Kamala Harris’ first book, ‘Smart on Crime’, published in 2009
Then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris poses for a portrait in San Francisco on June 18, 2004.
California state representative Bilal Essayli told DailyMail.com that the sentence was “extremely light.”
“This guy received the lowest possible sentence for committing rape and I don’t know how that is justified with his previous criminal conviction as well as his illegal stay in the country,” she said.
The case and plea agreement were presented and accepted by Assistant District Attorney Adrian Ivancevich.
Typically, an assistant district attorney would be assigned guidelines for plea deals, Essayli said, but anything out of the ordinary would require Harris to personally approve.
“No matter what happens, she is responsible for every provision that comes out of that office, because she is a leader of that office,” he said.
It is unclear where Rosales is today, as documents show he was last reported living in Sacramento in 2010.
DailyMail.com contacted Harris’ campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Years later, the case reached civil court where Gradillas was awarded $2 million in 2012 for the incident after holding the business owner and insurance company liable. according to Court News.
After campaigning as a “progressive” prosecutor, Harris relied on plea deals when she was San Francisco district attorney to keep her conviction rates high.
The San Francisco Weekly reported In 2010 Harris had won only 55 percent of murder trials since early 2009, and that in the first quarter of 2010 his office’s conviction rate for all felony trials was only 53 percent.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has consistently talked about illegal immigrants committing crimes during the election campaign.
Trump spoke to his supporters and the press on Friday about the criminal immigrants who murdered a girl.
He has criticized immigrant crime, specifically in places like Aurora, Colorado, where rumors of a Venezuelan gang invading apartment complexes have gone viral.
“They’re coming in with weapons that go beyond even military range and they’re taking over apartment buildings,” Trump said in North Carolina last week about Aurora. “They are literally taking over those cities.”
“Thousands of immigrants from the most dangerous countries are destroying the character of small towns and leaving local communities in distress and despair,” he said, referring to communities in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
He has even proposed a shocking and unique solution to America’s crime problems that some say resembles the popular horror film series The Purge.
At a rally last month, Trump cited recent incidents of daylight robberies at local businesses and suggested that criminals “need to be taught” a lesson and suggested a quick and easy way to do it.
‘If you were having a really rough day. “In a difficult hour, and I mean very difficult, word would get out and it would be over immediately,” Trump said.