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The CEO of RadiumOne, Gurbaksh Chahal pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and battery charges, according to the Huffington Post. By doing this, Chahal was able to dodge 45 felony counts that stemmed from a 30-minute videotaped beating of his girlfriend.
Chahal does not face any time in jail. He received a three-year probation sentence and 52 weeks in a domestic violence program. He was also sentenced to 25 hours of community service.
Chahal was arrested in August when police responded to a 911 domestic violence call at his penthouse apartment in San Francisco.
Chahal’s girlfriend told police she had trouble breathing and that he told her four times, “I’m going to kill you.” This is according to Anh Nguyen, a San Francisco police officer. “She stated she was in fear for her life.”
Video footage of Chahal beating his girlfriend was acquired by home security cameras. The footage shows Chahal beating and kicking his girlfriend 117 times during the attack, which lasted some 30 minutes. Court documents show that Chahal attacked his girlfriend after he learned she cheated on him while in Las Vegas.
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Chahal posted bail of $1 million and hired former federal prosecutor James Lassart as his attorney. When this happened, Chahal’s girlfriend ended her cooperation with investigators and would not testify him. At a preliminary hearing, Lassart argued that the beating was overblown, but did not deny that Chahal hit his girlfriend.
The surveillance video cannot be used as evidence in the case because police took it from the property illegally, according to a ruling from San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy. The prosecution argued that the video likely would have been erased if police waited for a warrant.
A spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, Alex Bastian, issues a statement on Thursday.
“We disagree with the judge’s suppression of the video. The judge’s ruling substantially weakened the evidence we had for prosecution,” Bastian said. “Though it is not the outcome we had hoped for, the case has reached a resolution where the defendant acknowledges guilt, is placed on domestic violence probation and has to take domestic violence classes.”
By agreeing to this deal, Chahal will be permitted to stay on the board of his company because he does not have a felony conviction.
Chahal earned a partnership with CondĂ© Nast in April. Since the ruling, the company said that they “do not condone abusive behavior and the UK company is reviewing its association. Our Britain division has a vendor relationship for sales software with the company, as do many other UK-based media companies,” Patricia Rockenwagner, CondĂ© Nast senior vice president of corporate branding and communications, said. “RadiumOne is a 3rd-party software vendor for our UK operation only.”
