A 22-year-old man admitted to beating and raping a UCSB student in a horrific on-campus attack in 2014, and will be sentenced to 36 years in prison in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
Daniel Jiang Chen of San Ramon appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded guilty to two separate rapes by force, inflicting great bodily injury, kidnapping and robbery for the Feb. 23, 2014 assault.
He was sworn in and admitted taking the victim, a female UCSB student who was 19 at the time, to an area of campus between the tennis courts and the track, and beating her so she couldn’t escape.
Law enforcement and medical professionals testified during the October preliminary hearing about the severity of Jane Doe’s injuries, which included a broken nose, ruptured eardrum and eyes so swollen they could barely close, in addition to vaginal injuries.
Chen answered, “yes,” when asked if he admitted to the allegations read aloud by prosecutor Benjamin Ladinig.
Chen admitted to raping the woman twice, causing great bodily injury each time. He also stole the victim’s cell phone by force, leading to the robbery charge.
He will have to register as a sex offender, and the three felony charges are all three-strike offenses, Ladinig said in court.
Judge James Herman accepted the plea and convicted Chen, who will be sentenced on Oct. 20.
The 36-year sentence is broken down as follows: eight years for the first count of rape; five years for personal infliction of great bodily injury related to that rape; nine years for the kidnapping enhancement; eight years for the second count of rape; five years for great bodily injury related to that rape; and one year for second-degree robbery.
He will have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.
Chen could have faced a life sentence with the original charges, Ladinig said after the hearing.
Ladinig said Chen told prosecutors what he had done, similar to his admissions in court, which started discussions about a plea.
The District Attorney’s Office talked to the victim and law enforcement, and the parties decided the sentence of 36 years would be appropriate, Ladinig said.
Chen, a former UCSB student, was arrested after his DNA from an unrelated case linked him to the sexual assault crime scene, authorities have said.
After the preliminary hearing, Superior Court Judge Pauline Maxwell determined there was enough evidence presented to merit a trial for Chen on charges of forcible rape while acting in concert with others, and special allegations of torture and inflicting great bodily injury.
He is being held in Santa Barbara County Jail without bail.
Chen was represented by Thomas Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum in court Wednesday, and was represented by Adam Pearlman and Appelbaum during the preliminary hearing.
Authorities suspect a group of men was involved in the attack, but no other suspects have been arrested or charged in this case.
“We have no information from (Chen) that implicates others. However, we are still investigating whether others were involved,” Ladinig said.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.