Outrage growing over judge’s sentencing in Stanford sex assault

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A Santa Clara County judge’s decision to sentence a former Stanford University swimmer to a relatively light six months in jail for the sexual assault of a drunken and unconscious woman at a fraternity party has sparked national outrage and an online campaign to remove him from the bench.

Victims’ rights advocates called Judge Aaron Persky’s punishment last week of 20-year-old Brock Allen Turner a slap on the wrist. Their anger was fueled by a statement from the swimmer’s father, who told the court that his son’s life shouldn’t be ruined because of “20 minutes of action.”

As the case has exploded into the spotlight, tens of thousands of people have flooded sites like Change.org to voice their support for an effort to remove from the bench the 54-year-old judge, who is up for re-election Tuesday but is running unopposed.

During the sentencing phase of the trial last week, the 23-year-old victim read an emotional 7,244-word letter to Turner, recounting what happened to her outside a fraternity party the night of Jan. 18, 2015, and laying out in precise and poignant detail the trauma she has struggled with since. The letter was picked up by the website Buzzfeed and went viral over the weekend; on Monday, a CNN anchor, Ashleigh Banfield, read the entire statement on the air.

Read more: http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Outrage-growing-over-judge-s-sentencing-in-7966755.php?t=0ef86dac6200af33be&cmpid=twitter-premium

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I signed this Ultraviolet petition calling on the state to remove Judge Persky.

[Warpy]

1. That judge is too deeply class and race biased to pass sentences on anyone.

We all know what the sentence for such a horrific crime would be if Turner had been black.

The judge really does need to be removed. The sentencing needs to be appealed. Turner needs to be off the street until he's too old think about assaulting anyone.

Turner's father is a little more understandable. No parent wants to admit he raised a monster.

[Doctor_J]

5. I'm not sure about that

A number of black athletes have gotten away with raping white women at Baylor. So this phenomenon is not race based.

[Warpy]

20. Good point, there's also JOCK BIAS

I should have inserted the word "ordinary."

[sense]

2. Considering the father's reaction to his

son's crime and sentence, it seems pretty clear where the son learned that rape is ok.

[youceyec]

3. White privilege?

Is there a case of a black adult first time offender with no criminal history getting only 6 months?

[Igel]

4. Don't know.

Good question. It'll keep you busy trying to look up cases because I know neither of us would want to assume something like that.

[avaistheone1]

16. I doubt it.

How does it serve white female rape victims for white male rapists not to have their booking pictures published?

[HeartoftheMidwest]

6. This isn't a race or class issue....

...it's a problem of exclusive rights and status for athletes. It's the culture in the educational sphere, from grade school through college, that says,"You have a privileged status here, because we value your ( sport ) skills above all else. We will coddle you, grant you privileges your peers won't get, and give you a pass on all your misdeeds/crimes."

When that wrong is addressed, it will be the START of rectifying the problem.

[radicalliberal]

9. Thank you! You're absolutely right. I've been aware of "jock" privilege for decades.

By the way, I've noticed that the despicably lenient judge in this case is a former lacrosse player. I'm wondering if he hasn't shown a bit of partiality because of the rapist's background.

Brock Turner (not to mention his incredibly indulgent father) is the latest poster boy of the MRAs, who live in an imaginary world in which virtually all the problems that men and boys face in life are caused by women -- NEVER by other guys.

[HeartoftheMidwest]

21. Affluenza strikes again!

Not all LaxBros are like that; not all sports programs foster that kind of behavior.
But enough do, especially at the collegiate level, to make hazing, and sexual assault of both men AND women, a festering obscenity.
I'm hoping the brave assault victim's letter will blow this scandal wide open.....people have to stop thinking it's no big deal.

[Sunlei]

7. what was he convicted of? and what are the sentencing guidelines for that conviction?

[Joanie Baloney]

8. I read that the maximum was 14 years

And the DA asked for 6 years. The Probation Dept. said 4-6 months!

The case went to trial, and Turner — who left Stanford last year and has been banned from campus — was convicted in March of three felonies that carried a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Turner — who has appealed the conviction — has maintained that he believed at the time the act was consensual and that he hadn’t realized the woman was unconscious.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen recommended six years in prison while the probation department proposed four to six months — a sentence, prosecutors wrote in a memo to the judge, that “reeks of the stigma that campus sexual assaults often receive” and “falls so short of the seriousness of this case that it should not even be objectively considered.”

But a six-month sentence is what Turner got on Thursday from Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky — who said he weighed Turner’s character, lack of criminal history and remorsefulness. Turner will also be on probation and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Persky’s many critics say the penalty smacks of white, middle-class privilege and a fundamental misunderstanding of the crime and its devastating effects.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/national/month-jail-sentence-in-stanford-sexual-assault-causes-outrage-petition/article_67745d90-2ca4-11e6-a642-5b8c29a99439.html

[Sunlei]

10. good that the jury upheld the charges and the case went to jury trial in the first place.

The felonies and sex offender list will follow the rapist for the rest of his life. I doubt his appeal will be successful.

[Delphinus]

23. I certainly didn't

see any remorsefulness in what I read from the victim.

[Joanie Baloney]

24. He's remorseful!

He's remorseful for not getting to finish those "20 minutes of action" and he's remorseful he got caught. Isn't that enough????

Blecch!

[progree]

11. ‘20 minutes of action’: father defends Stanford student son convicted of sexual assault

The father of a former Stanford University athlete convicted on multiple charges of sexual assault has said his son should not have to go to prison for “20 minutes of action”.

... “He will never be his happy go lucky self with that easy going personality and welcoming smile,” he wrote of his son. “His every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear, and depression. You can see this in his face, the way he walks, his weakened voice, his lack of appetite.”

More: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/06/father-stanford-university-student-brock-turner-sexual-assault-statement

"his lack of appetite". Sigh. Which appetite?

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Stanford sexual assault: judge facing recall campaign over light sentence
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027885556

[Geronimoe]

14. Sounds to me like

a ten year prison term would do him good. At least he could claim he served his time for the crime.

[christx30]

19. His victim is most likely going through that:

“His every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear, and depression. You can see this in his face, the way he walks, his weakened voice, his lack of appetite.”

Why should her attacker get anything less?

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. The judge went to Stanford

and was captain of the lacrosse team.

What amazes me is that not only did Turner get a slap on the wrist, he plead NOT GUILTY. He thought that having sex with an UNCONSCIOUS woman was OKAY. And when, in his drunkenness, he couldn't get it up (conjecture on my part), it was okay to penetrate her with a foreign object.

But there is one small silver lining. Turner had planned on becoming a surgeon. I can't imagine any medical school or residency program that would accept a convicted rapist and registered sex offender.

[Geronimoe]

13. The rapist, the judge and the father

all need serious psychiatric care. The judge is more sympathetic to the rapist than the rapist's innocent young victim.

[radicalliberal]

17. What they desperately need and, in fact, richly deserve is years behind bars.

Some people are evil. They're not mentally ill; they're just plain evil. They are beyond the reach of therapy. The rest of us should be protected from these monsters. As the father of two wonderful daughters, I'm sick and tired of the rape culture in this country; and I'm equally sick and tired of those who deny that it exists.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Really sad, but true! n/t

[progree]

15. "He is genuinely remorseful"

Last edited Tue Jun 7, 2016, 11:23 AM - Edit history (2)

But probation officials recommended a much lighter penalty of six months in county jail, largely because he has no prior criminal record and their belief that he is genuinely remorseful, according to prosecution and defense sentencing memos.

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_29962311/former-stanford-athlete-brock-turner-years-prison-or

In his decision, he said positive character references and Turner's remorse and lack of previous criminal record were mitigating factors.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36459504

... In her 12-page victim impact statement, that has spread on social media, the woman noted that Turner has only admitted to being drunk that night, but has not acknowledged that he assaulted her and has continued to argue that the encounter was consensual.

The judge seemed to show some sympathy to Turner’s perspective. “I take him at his word that subjectively that’s his version of his events. … I’m not convinced that his lack of complete acquiescence to the verdict should count against him,” he said.

... After sentencing, Turner’s attorneys notified the court that they intend to appeal the conviction. ((more genuine remorsefulness, I guess --Progree ))

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/06/stanford-sexual-assault-judge-recall

...and a change.org petition calling for the judge to be removed has already garnered more than 45,000 signatures. ( https://www.change.org/p/california-state-house-recall-judge-aaron-persky )

[CanonRay]

18. Makes me wonder how many times the judge did something similar in college

and got away with it. The "boys will be boys" syndrome.