Man sentenced to prison in eye-gouge case

Despite being found guilty by a jury of trying to gouge out his estranged girlfriend's eyes and attacking her roommate, a Chinese national insisted Monday he was innocent.

"He wants to tell everyone how they set him up and cheated him," said interpreter Brett Ashcroft for Xue Bao Chen, 47, during Chen's sentencing hearing before Judge Todd Russell.

"I didn't do anything. This was their whole arrangement," Ashcroft translated.

Chen was found guilty in August of two counts of battery with a deadly weapon. According to court records, Chen attacked his estranged girlfriend in her Longridge Drive home early on May 23, 2009, stabbing her in the face, neck and eyelids. One gash was so severe, officers initially feared that the cut had punctured her eye.

When the woman's female roommate tried to intervene, Chen assaulted her as well.

He was arrested on a warrant for attempted murder three days later in Placerville, Calif., where he owned a business.

In October 2009 he waived his preliminary hearing in preparation to plead guilty, but then opted to take his case before a jury. After four days of testimony and 90 minutes of deliberation the jury found Chen guilty on all counts.

An agitated Chen spoke loudly in Mandarin throughout the sentencing hearing Monday, frustrating the translator who threw his hands up after being unable to keep up and the judge who repeatedly asked Chen to wait for his chance to speak.

Chen wanted to explain that the trial testimony was wrong, that the witnesses couldn't keep their stories straight, and that the three people who testified against him plotted to steal his restaurants and frame him, said Ashcroft.

But Assistant District Attorney Gerald Gardner objected to Chen's statements.

"He's trying the case again," said Gardner, and Russell agreed.

"Tell me what kind of sentence you think you should receive," said Russell.

"American law is not fair," shouted Chen in broken English.

While Chen's attorney asked for probation so Chen could to return to China, Russell opted instead to send the man to prison for four to 10 years on each count to run concurrently.

"There's no justification, Mr. Chen, under any basis for your actions," said Russell.

Chen resisted bailiffs who tried to lead him from the courtroom.

"I talk too much?" he yelled, before shouting expletives in English as he was led out the door.

Chen's attorney Marcie Flygare said she would appeal the conviction.