by Tiffany Yeh
Defendant Lianqiang Zhang (referred to as Jasper for some of the preliminary hearing) is charged with several counts of domestic violence and is represented by defense Attorney David Grow. Deputy District Attorney Matt De Moura is the prosecutor, and Judge Janene Beronio presided over this hearing.
“RC” was the main witness today, and described several events that allegedly occurred around September and October of 2016, involving her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Zhang. They first broke up in March 2016 but had been in contact from September 2016 to October 2016. RC is 21 years old and is a college student.
RC stated that, sometime in September of 2016, she and the defendant got into an argument (regarding something he lied to her about) and she then described Mr. Zhang picking her up by her neck with his hands and lifting her up off the ground for less than a second. RC said she was kicking and trying to push the defendant away from her. She stated feeling sad and really shocked. Mr. Zhang apologized to her, she said, and told her it would not happen again, then stated he did not want to live anymore and ran away from her. RC and a friend were concerned about him and ran after him but were not able to catch up to him. He later came back with food for RC.
RC stated that around October 3, 2016, Mr. Zhang struck her on the head with a closed fist. She stated that she had headaches afterward but no physical injuries. Mr. Zhang cried, apologized, slapped himself on the face, and told her he wouldn’t do it again.
On October 7, 2016, RC made a police report. Mr. Zhang allegedly took her cell phone from her apartment while she was sleeping, deleted some contacts off her phone, and posted some comments with her personal account. He made some screenshots of pictures on her phone. He wrote a paragraph-long comment in the University (UC Davis) first year Chinese students’ group, using a first person pronoun, saying, “I am a bitch…” and telling people (in first person) to leave RC alone.
RC said she then woke up because of the smell of cigarette smoke, and Zhang told her that what he had done. RC stated that he told her he wanted to show her “who really cares about her” and “who the bad people are,” that he “deleted all of your loves” and said to “give your lovers a warning.”
RC was not sure how many people he contacted by message with her phone.
RC recalled Mr. Zhang, on a separate date, holding a knife almost against her face (not touching her face, but close) and telling her to use the knife to slash herself.
RC was not sure on which date, around October 3-7, that he talked about her male friends, and held a green fruit knife in the kitchen of his apartment and told her to use the knife to slash herself. Mr. Zhang’s roommate, who was present at the time, took the fruit knife away from Zhang.
RC said that, later, she and Zhang were in the bathroom and he had a butcher-style knife and told her to cut her face. Then he held the knife near her face and told her that he could help her. She left the apartment, really scared, and stated that he seemed “really upset.”
Mr. Zhang came into her apartment at midnight, RC stated, and they took an Uber together to school. RC had called the police and told them about Zhang sending messages to her friends using her phone. Mr. Zhang encouraged RC to report to the police because “he wants to stop, he said he doesn’t want to hurt her anymore,” “he’s not afraid of police or court,” “no one will believe her.”
RC stated that Mr. Zhang went, uninvited, to her math discussion class (discussions usually have less people than a lecture class) and was at her chemistry lecture class (she looked back and noticed he was sitting in the classroom; they are not in the same class.)
Deputy DA De Moura pointed out the size difference between RC and Mr. Zhang – RC described herself as 5 feet 3 inches tall, and she stated that Mr. Zhang is 6 feet, 3 or 4 inches tall.
Officer Catalina Hernandez is a UC Davis police officer who testified in court. She stated that, on one of the October evenings in question, a female (RC) reported that her ex-boyfriend was possibly stalking her, and the female did not want the ex to see her and the officer together.
Officer Hernandez described the female as seeming pretty scared and that the ex called the female at least three times. The female answered the phone when her roommate called her. The roommate told RC that the ex (Mr. Zhang) was in her bed at her apartment at the moment. The officer said the female (RC) was trying to keep Mr. Zhang in her room while she was in the company of the officer.
Mr. Zhang allegedly stated that he wanted to blackmail RC.
Later that evening, Officer Hernandez arrested Mr. Zhang outside RC’s apartment. He waived his Miranda rights and gave the officer a statement. He stated that he was supposed to meet RC at her apartment later but came early to take a nap.
He stated that they were currently dating. When asked why he came to RC’s discussion class, he emphasized a couple times that he was there to learn and he did not mention pulling her backpack or telling her to stay in the classroom for the second discussion with him. He denied hurting RC and stated that he knew how police officers work – asking the same questions, in different ways, to confuse him.
Officer Jena Du is a UC Davis police officer who has not gone through the Proposition 115 (Crime Victims Justice Reform Act of 1990) class so she did not testify in court.
Officer Alan Hatfield is a Davis police officer. On the night of October 7, 2016, the Davis Police Department was notified by the UC Davis PD that there was probable cause for an arrest for stalking.
Officer Hatfield arrested Mr. Zhang from outside RC’s apartment. Zhang initially turned away from the officer and the officer then put him in a control hold. Mr. Zhang was brought to Yolo County Jail and then released, Mirandized – and he waived his rights.
Mr. Zhang denied sending text messages or posting online using RC’s cell phone. He said that someone else had hacked RC’s phone.
Mr. Zhang told the officer that, around the mid to end of September 2016, he tried to hug RC to calm her down and he took off his belt and tried to hang himself from a belt. He said she punched him in his groin. Regarding another event, he stated that he had grabbed her neck and massaged her.
Officer Hatfield described what he has been told about RC and Mr. Zhang. On 10/3/16: Zhang allegedly hit the back of RC’s head. Mr. Zhang told the officer that RC has hit him in the groin in the past. On 10/4/16: RC and Mr. Zhang were at RC’s apartment during the episode with the knives, which he initially denied but he then admitted cutting himself in the past for stress relief and described the green kitchen knife and the butcher knife. He stated only trying to kill himself in the bathroom, but not threatening RC.
RC described to Officer Hatfield that, on 10/4/16, RC and Mr. Zhang sat across from each other at the kitchen table. He had the green fruit knife in his hand, saying he should cut her, then cut himself. The roommate took the knife away from him and then Mr. Zhang dragged her to the bathroom and brought a butcher style knife to the bathroom, telling her to cut herself and that if she did, he would forgive her. Officer Hatfield described RC saying that Mr. Zhang held her from the back while they were in the bathroom.
Officer Hatfield stated that RC said there was a time when Mr. Zhang threw her on a bed, straddled her, and choked her on the bed. He put his hand on her mouth for about 6 seconds, grabbed her throat for about 2-3 seconds, put his fist against her throat for about 2-3 seconds, and threatened to kill her. He drew on her face with a gel pen. RC was choking and vomited. He then apologized to her and called for a ride to take her home.
Judge Beronio held the defendant to answer on counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 and for use of a deadly weapon in counts 1, 3, and 4. Mr. Zhang will be arraigned on the information in February.
