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Rape Victim Publicly Discusses Ordeal Hoping To Help Others: 'My Character Has Been Attacked'

MIRACLE MILE (CBSLA.com) — A rape victim spoke out Wednesday hoping to help other young women with her story.

"My character has been attacked and I have been further victimized," said Shelby Pfeffer, who was intoxicated when she was raped.

She made it clear she wanted to talk about her ordeal and wanted to do so on-camera.

"And I have gathered every ounce of strength I had in me to fight, not only for myself, but for other young women as well," she said.

The man convicted in her attack was Scott Bennett, 51, from Los Angeles.

Bennett is a musician who was touring with the Brian Wilson band at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The evidence showed that's where he found the intoxicated Pfeffer inside a hotel elevator and where the sexual assault began.

A jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to five years in state prison in Oklahoma.

"She is aware of the Stanford case," said Attorney Gloria Allred, a reference to Brock Turner, who received six months in county jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman near the Stanford campus.

"And her abuser was given an unreasonably light sentence," said Pfeffer.

Bennett also was a first-time offender with no previous record but he received a longer sentence.

"We do have a lot of similarities in the Stanford case to this case. Both of the victims were unconscious or under the influence and she decided she wanted to speak out today and I believe that is the right decision for her," Allred said.

Allred would not allow Pfeffer, her client, to answer any questions. She said her statement spoke for itself.

But Allred said she does not agree with those who have signed a petition, demanding that the Palo Alto judge be recalled from the bench because of the light sentence he gave in the Turner case.

"It's a disagreement about what the sentence should be. I think it's important that this healthy conversation take place nationally, even internationally. But, for me, that's not something I support," said Allred.

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