Stick to Gossip, Harvey.
On Friday morning, Brock Turner — a former Stanford University student convicted of three felony sexual assault charges — walked out of jail after serving a three-month sentence. That is 90 days of imprisonment in a jail, not a prison, for his malicious sexual assault on an unconscious and defenseless woman, behind a dumpster at a party.
This sentence has generated nationwide outrage from a number of sources, ranging from elected officials to political and social commentators. And Stanford law professor Michele Landis Dauber has instigated a major campaign to recall the judge, Aaron Persky, who imposed this lenient, frankly, minimal sentence.
Via information released through the Recall Aaron Persky campaign, Landis Dauber has detailed other instances in which Persky granted Camp Cupcake style sentences to punish horrific sexual offenses:
“In 2014, Robert Chain found himself in Judge Persky’s courtroom on felony charges of child pornography. Chain was arrested with dozens of abusive and sexual images of young girls. This is a horrific crime — yet Judge Persky sentenced Chain to only four days in county jail and three years of probation.”
“Sadly, this is not the first time that Persky has appeared to favor athletes accused of campus rape. In a 2011 civil trial following the alleged gang rape of an unconscious 17-year-old victim by members of a college baseball team, according to the Guardian, Persky allowed the jury to consider photographs of the victim taken at a party nearly a year after the assault in order to prove that the victim was not really traumatized. Her lawyers called the impact of the photos “prejudicial” and questioned other rulings by Persky that favored the defendants.”
“The same day that Judge Persky sentenced Brock Turner, he sentenced Ming Hsuan Chiang to ‘weekend’ jail time for felony aggravated battery against his fianceé. Chiang was another privileged male who works as an engineer in Silicon Valley.”
OK, so can we all agree that Persky needs to be off the bench? No, wait! We have to hear the all-important opinion of Harvey Levin!
“Harvey Levin?” you’re probably thinking. “Isn’t that the guy who hosts that one gossip show, where he stands around, drinks copious amounts of tea, and listens while his reporters talk about the various ways that they have followed various celebrities around town, stuck cameras in their faces and asked them invasive questions about their personal lives?”
Yep, that’s the one! To be fair, aside from the being the host of TMZ, Levin is also a lawyer and a law professor. And on Friday he released a video condemning Landis Dauber as “undemocratic,” “rabid” and “a bully.” He also says that Emily Doe — the brave, articulate survivor of Brock Turner’s assault — is “a binge drinker” and “a drunk”; revealing her blood alcohol level on the night of the attack and implying that she may or may not have given consent before she passed out.
Now Levin does say that Turner is guilty of a sex crime, and that he should not have assaulted an unconscious woman; he also states, however, that “it’s not the same as if a stranger on the street did something awful to (her).”
Um, actually it’s exactly the same, because that is precisely what happened. Emily Doe did not and does not know Brock Turner — at no point was she clear and lucid during the attack, and therefore she could not give consent. And something awful did happen; so awful that, according to her harrowing victim’s testimony statement, her work life, her love life, her life in general has been pretty much destroyed. Brock Turner killed the Emily Doe that was — what remains is a brave, solemn woman struggling to maintain her dignity and regain her life and sense of well-being.
And even if she had known or dated Brock Turner in the past, or even had consensual sex with him, that would not in any way have lessened the devastating impact of his assault on her that evening.
And in regards to Emily Doe being a binge drinker; the amount that she drank, or usually drinks, has no bearing on the seriousness of the crime enacted against her. And in her victim testimony statement, she specifically states that it was because she was NOT usually a heavy drinker that her tolerance for alcohol was particularly low that evening.
Levin, Emily Doe likely has more personal courtesy and dignity than to respond to your character assassination, and she probably won’t strike the low verbal blow that you deserve in this instance. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no qualms about doing so.
A few years ago, I actually found myself watching a handful of TMZ episodes, for one reason only. Max Hodges, a onetime TMZ correspondent and current surfer and reality star, was just so darned attractive I couldn’t look away. My daily half-hour dosage of Max inspired my romance writing and just made life more pleasant in general.
The other thing I remember from my brief, shameful binge of TMZ viewing was Harvey’s production logo and trademark TMZ promo photo, which I’ve reproduced here:
Yes, I know that this is meant to be a funny, light-hearted logo; one in which Levin holds what appears to be a half-empty bottle of booze while declaring, “I’m a lawyer!” Yet how would he feel if someone saw him holding a drink and declared him a “drunk” and a “binge drinker”? If he considers excessive drinking to be such an awful sin, perhaps he shouldn’t make light of it — or, for that matter, sell T-shirts that depict this very image.
Levin goes on to say that it’s fine to disagree with and discuss Persky’s sentence, but that — because of her recall effort — he is embarrassed to be in the same profession as Landis Dauber.
Well, I’m sure, Harvey, that Landis Dauber is herself so proud to share a profession with the current broadcast king of cheap, intrusive tabloid gossip. And do you know what else? When it comes to giving light, meaningless sentences to criminal sex offenders, the time for talking is over. Debating, writing commentaries, voicing our opinions, these things are all very important, but at the end of the day the offending judge remains on the bench and this is unacceptable.
It’s time for action, and while you certainly have the freedom to adhere to ‘the bro code’ and defend your fellow white rich male legal professional to your heart’s content (because, after all, “you’re a lawyer!”), we also have the right to demand that true justice be served. Oh, but we’ll be sure and call you if we want to find out who Selena Gomez played miniature golf with last weekend.
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