Stanford Ph.D. student in electrical engineering Yishun Dong pleaded no contest last week to multiple counts of domestic violence and assault and battery charges after he allegedly beat his former girlfriend last year in July.

For not contesting the felony charges, Dong will avoid state prison and face no more than 364 days in county jail, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

On July 19, Dong is alleged to have gone over to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Menlo Park and assaulted her, striking her six to seven times violently. The two of them had dated for a year but broke up a month before the assault, according to prosecutors. The victim is also a doctoral student at Stanford University.

The victim was hospitalized and had to have surgery for a fracture around the eye. She had initially denied her ex-boyfriend was responsible for the attack but eventually reported the incident to the police.

In October, Dong pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, last Monday at a pretrial conference, he admitted to charges of felony, domestic violence and an enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury.

Dong is out of custody on a $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21.

Contact Catherine Zaw at czaw13 ‘at’ stanford.edu.