Content Warning: sexual assault
Peter Chen, former professor of
Electrical Engineering and Com-
puter Science at the University of
Michigan, appeared in the 22nd
Circuit Court of Washtenaw Coun-
ty on Sept. 30 afternoon for a pre-
trial hearing.
Chen is charged with crimi-
nal sexual misconduct of the first
degree, a felony that could carry a
sentence of life imprisonment. He
will stand trial Jan. 31 at 8:30 a.m.
At the pre-trial hearing Sept. 30,
prosecutor Andrew Childers and
Chen’s lawyer, Mariell Lehman,
stated no agreements had been
made regarding the case. They both
thought there would be no resolu-
tion and jointly recommended to
the court that the case proceeds to
trial.
Judge Darlene O’Brien, who pre-
sided over the case, said there will
be a final pre-trial hearing on Dec.
16. In the meantime, all of Chen’s
bond conditions — remaining out of
custody on personal recognizance
and restricted access with minors
— continue to apply.
At
a
preliminary
examina-
tion in Ann Arbor’s 15th District
Court in July, Judge Miriam Perry
found that probable cause existed
to believe the crime of criminal
sexual conduct of the first degree
occurred and that Chen committed
the crime. The case then proceeded
to the 22nd Circuit Court.
Allegations against Chen sur-
faced less than a year after sexual
misconduct
allegations
against
CSE professor Jason Mars, which
triggered calls for Mars’ removal
and an uproar from students. Chen
became the interim chair of CSE
following the departure of Brian
Noble, who abruptly stepped down
in February 2020. Chen resigned
only six months later due to “per-
sonal reasons.”
The department has dealt with
other allegations of sexual miscon-
duct against former CSE professor
Walter Lasecki, whose resignation
took effect in August.
Shannon Smith, who is listed as
Chen’s attorney on the court dock-
et, was not present at the hearing.
Lehman and Smith’s firm, Smith
Lehman, represents Chen and
specializes in criminal sexual mis-
conduct allegations. Smith will be
present at the trial in January.
Smith represented the now-
convicted Larry Nassar, who faced
more than 150 sexual miscon-
duct allegations from his time as
a professor at Michigan State Uni-
versity’s College of Osteopathic
Medicine and USA National Gym-
nastics team doctor.
In a January 2021 statement to
The Daily, Lehman said that Chen
denied the allegations against him.
“(Chen) completely denies the
allegations and has cooperated
fully with (AAPD) to assist them
in their investigation,” Lehman
wrote. “Mr. Chen is confident that
the truth will prevail and that he
will be exonerated fully. Mr. Chen
thanks the numerous people who
have reached out in support of him
over the last few days.”
A previous version of this story
incorrectly stated Nassar was a
professor at Michigan State Uni-
versity’s College of Human Medi-
cine. It has been corrected to
reflect he was a professor at Mich-
igan State University’s College of
Osteopathic Medicine.
Daily Staff Reporter Jared Dougall
can be reached at jdougall@umich.
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PUBLIC SAFETY
Former CSE professor Peter Chen charged
with first degree sexual misconduct
Felony could carry life imprisonment sentence, trial is set to begin on Jan. 31
JARED DOUGALL
Daily Staff Reporter
Associate Editor: Julia Maloney
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
Buddy Stark, the newly appointed planetarium manager at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, poses for a photo.
PHOTO
Content Warning: sexual assault
The Michigan House Oversight
Committee held a hearing Sept. 30
to discuss two new house bills to
empower sexual assault survivors
to file suit for damages. Victims
of late University of Michigan
athletic doctor Robert Anderson
and former USA Gymnastics and
Michigan State University doctor
Larry Nassar spoke in testimony
before the committee to express
their full support for these bills.
The
two
bills,
known
as
Michigan’s
Empowering
Survivors
legislative
package,
was originally introduced on
Sept. 16, 2020 and reintroduced in
early 2021 by Rep. Ryan Berman,
R-Commerce
Township,
and
Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit.
It consists of two bills aimed
at protecting victims of sexual
assault. The legislative package
has
also
received
bipartisan
support from legislators.
One of the two new house
bills included in the legislative
package,
HB
4307,
prevents
schools from claiming immunity
when the abuse took place “under
the guise of medical care and
the school knew or should have
known,” Berman said.
Berman
spoke
about
the
importance of reevaluating the
laws to ensure they are protecting
community members.
“We need to look again … at the
laws we have in place,” Berman
said. “Are they adequate? Does
there need to be a change? If there’s
criminal sexual conduct from a
government agency or agent and
someone either knew about it or
should have known about it and
they didn’t do anything to prevent
it and they allowed it to continue
occurring, then there should be
some liability. They shouldn’t be
able to hide behind the shield of
governmental immunity.”
Rep. Pat Outman, R-Six Lakes,
brought
up
concerns
about
HB 4307 being overly broad,
especially
pertaining
to
the
section that states that a school
“should have known” about abuse.
The other bill, HB 4360,
proposes an amendment to the
statute of limitations to allow
for a one-year window for those
abused while undergoing medical
care to file a suit. This is similar
to the 90-day window previously
allowed by state law for MSU’s
Nassar survivors.
Trinea Gonczar, director at
Avalon Healing Center, was the
first to testify at the hearing as
a victim of Nassar. She spoke
about how long it took her to
acknowledge her assault and
the importance of amending the
statute of limitations.
“I had to come to terms with the
fact that my entire childhood was
a lie,” Gonczar said. “As a 37-year-
old woman … watching the other
brave girls and young women
speak their truth and sharing
their impact statements one-by-
one with almost identical stories
(to) mine … assault takes time to
process. Just because someone
was raped early as a child, they
should not be penalized. They
should still be protected and
offered justice.”
Former U-M football player
Jon Vaughn spoke on his assaults
during
his
testimony
and
announced his support for the
legislative package.
“We trusted our doctors, and
especially trusted U-M doctors
— who wouldn’t?” Vaughn said.
“Now in 2021 as a 51-year-old
man, I know that we were abused,
assaulted, raped.”
Brixie spoke about the variety
of reasons many victims do not
initially come forward after their
assault,
including
PTSD
and
threats from the perpetrator.
“It’s important to remember
that prior to the 2018 reforms,
folks who are survivors only had
three years to come forward,”
Brixie said. “We in the state of
Michigan, and our laws, are partly
to blame for serial sex abusers
being harbored as a result of our
laws.”
Rep.
Steven
Johnson,
R-Wayland, said the committee
should ensure that the bills include
some degree of protections for
those accused of misconduct.
“It’s a tough line to walk here
where you’re trying to make sure
you protect the survivors while
also the innocent,” Johnson said.
“That’s why it’s a very difficult
package of bills here to make sure
that we get this right, so encourage
the committee to be very active
in this to make sure that we can
thread the needle to look out for
the victims while at the same time
protecting the innocent.”
The University has received
backlash for its lack of action
against Anderson after receiving
complaints from students..There
have been recent demands for the
University to take responsibility
for Anderson’s actions, including
at the most recent Board of
Regents meeting.
WilmerHale, the firm hired
by the University to investigate
Anderson’s misconduct, found
that complaints about Anderson
traceback to 1966.
Gonczar
spoke
about
this
historical inaction on the part of
the University.
“These
institutions
have
shamed,
blamed
and
only
protected themselves, which in
turn is the exact way to attract
predatory behavior to not only
flourish, but to be welcomed,”
Gonczar said. “Immunity for state
universities gives no incentive to
change for the better.”
Vaughn explained that several
U-M officials, including former
football coach Bo Schembechler,
were
aware
of
Anderson’s
misconduct and chose not to act
on the allegations.
“They made a choice not to
protect us,” Vaugn said. “Instead,
the University enabled our abuse.”
Tad
DeLuca,
former
U-M
wrestler, also testified and shared
the mental and physical effects
that his assaults had on him.
During his time at the University,
DeLuca reported Anderson to his
coach but was turned away.
After writing an official letter to
report Anderson, athletic director
Don Canham suspended DeLuca
from the wrestling program and
took away his full-ride scholarship,
which was paying for his out-of-
state tuition. According to DeLuca,
since
the
WilmerHale
report
came out in May 2021, current
University employees have denied
the allegations and the content of
the report, attacking victims who
have spoken out.
“The
lesson
was
clear,”
DeLuca said. “If you try to stand
up for yourself and do the right
thing, Michigan will destroy
you. They will pound you down.
They did.”
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Kate
Weiland
can
be
reached
at
kmwblue@umich.edu.
KATE WEILAND
Daily Staff Reporter
Speakers express support for Michigan’s Empowering Survivors legislative package
Anderson, Nassar survivors testify during
Mich. House Oversight Committee hearing
GOVERNMENT