California: Indian American entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal was taken into custody to serve a one-year sentence for violating probation on domestic charges. For the first time during lengthy court proceedings over four years, Chahal spoke directly to the court. He asked San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tracie Brown to consider alternatives to remanding him into custody; Brown had issued Chahal’s sentence two years ago.
“I’ve done everything in my power to give back to society,” said Chahal, copiously weeping as he read out his statement. He spoke about his foundation, which, he said, had helped hundreds of people, including women and victims of domestic violence. “I desperately need my freedom,” he said, noting how deeply his incarceration would affect his family and his business ventures. “Please reconsider,” he pleaded with Brown.
Chahal’s attorney Robert Shapiro asked Brown to remand Chahal into house arrest. Brown said: “It is ironic that you’re asking me to sentence him to the place where the crimes were committed.” Shapiro said Chahal could be sentenced to his parents’ home, where he would be fully supervised. Brown immediately remanded Chahal into custody, noting that she had considered the entrepreneur’s charitable initiatives when she issued her sentence two years ago. She noted that Chahal had not apologized to his two victims, one of whom he severely beat 133 times in his San Francisco penthouse in 2013. Chahal was serving a sentence of three years of probation, when he struck another woman several times. He is being held in custody for violating his parole.
Brown denied Chahal a stay of custody, as requested by Shapiro to “get his affairs in order.” She also denied several other requests by Shapiro. Christopher Hall, one of Chahal’s attorneys, said that his client was treated unfairly by the court, and by the media. The second accuser never showed up in court; thus, the case against Chahal was based on weak and second-hand testimony, asserted Hall. “Had she shown up, we would have had a very different outcome.”
Max Szabo, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, said after Chahal was taken away, that, had the second accuser been found, Chahal would have faced domestic violence charges which impose a much higher sentence. “We are satisfied with today’s outcome,” said Szabo, noting that Chahal only has to serve 50 per cent of his sentence: six months.
