STANFORD — A woman who accused a Stanford professor of domestic violence is denouncing prosecutors’ decision last month to dismiss a criminal charge after two years of litigation, and is objecting to her former boyfriend’s claims of innocence.
Paula Canny, the attorney for the woman — whose name is being withheld by this news organization because she is a reported victim of domestic violence — stands by her client’s allegations against Hunter Fraser.
Canny is also lambasting the characterization of the 2022 incident at Fraser’s home — in which the woman suffered broken ribs after Fraser pushed a door into her — as an accident.
“The dismissal of this case is outrageous,” Canny said. “(Fraser) is deserving of prosecution, not a dismissal. What he did in this case was no accident. People who harm loved ones ‘by accident’ make amends and take responsibility. Hunter Fraser instead aggressively attacked and belittled his victim.”
On Nov. 19, Superior Court Judge Thomas Kuhnle granted a request by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to dismiss a felony count of corporal injury to an intimate partner.
After the dismissal, Fraser said in a statement that “it’s deeply unsettling how a simple accident was manipulated into a narrative portraying me as an abuser, something I am not and never have been … I am relieved the record has finally been set straight.”
The DA’s office said at the time that “after a careful evaluation of all the evidence, including an accident defense, we concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
According to authorities, Fraser was chasing his then-9-year-old daughter around their Stanford home while playing a “tickle game” when he pushed open a door that the woman was standing behind, with the force driving the doorknob into her torso and knocking her into a wall.
Fraser has claimed he did not know she was behind the door, and contends that she did not press for criminal prosecution until after their relationship ended.
But Canny points to the fact a judge found enough evidence during a 2023 preliminary examination to allow the charge to proceed toward trial.
“The judge found Hunter Fraser battered his victim, finding further that Hunter Fraser personally inflicted great bodily injury upon the victim because he broke her ribs,” she said.
Canny also directed her ire at the district attorney’s office, saying neither she nor her client were given sufficient notice about the decision to dismiss the charge.
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“They did not give the victim reasonable notice regarding the court appearance. No one from their office contacted me. I represent the victim. The victim and I found out after the fact,” she said. “They have completely messed this up.”
The district attorney’s office disputed that characterization, and reaffirmed its decision in a statement: “This case was not provable in court, and we notified the victim of that before the dismissal.”
Fraser unwittingly drew wider attention to his criminal case when in June 2023, he was reported missing after not returning as scheduled from a 40-mile backpacking trip in Olympic National Park in Washington state, prompting a massive search by authorities that covered more than 70 miles of trails.
Fraser later said he slipped on a snowy slope and hit his head, leaving him disoriented. He missed a June 9 court hearing that had to be rescheduled. On June 11, Fraser reportedly made his way to a road where he encountered two hikers who gave him food and drove him to a ranger station.