A 22-year-old former UC Santa Barbara student charged in a brutal gang rape in 2014 accepted a plea bargain that includes a 36-year prison sentence. Daniel Chen appeared Wednesday in plain clothes in front of Judge James Herman.
Chen said nothing other than to acknowledge he agreed to the deal.
Chen was charged with engaging in a gang rape on the edge of the UCSB campus. The victim suffered severe injuries in the attack, including a broken nose, a ruptured eardrum, and trauma to her eyes so severe that an investigating officer could not determine the color of her eyes. She told investigators she had been at a party earlier that night but could not remember becoming separated from her friends, according to testimony in the preliminary hearing.