In response to recall campaign, judge explains Brock Turner sentencing
Turner spent three months in jail for sexually assaulting a woman
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and a story by Nicole Lewis for The Post.
In January 2015, Brock Turner sexually assaulted a woman behind a dumpster.
After a jury found him guilty of three sex crimes — including assault with the intent to commit rape — Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in jail. Because of good behavior, Turner only spent three months in jail. He is now a registered sex offender in Ohio.
In a statement read in the courtroom, the woman told Turner he “took away my worth.”
“The damage is done, no one can undo it. And now we both have a choice. We can let this destroy us, I can remain angry and hurt and you can be in denial, or we can face it head on, I accept the pain, you accept the punishment, and we move on.”
The short stint in jail angered many people, who said it was too small a price to pay for sexually assaulting a woman.
While the judge said he understood the “devastation” the victim suffered, he feared imprisonment would have a “severe” impact on Turner. One juror said the sentence made “ a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape.”
Committee to Remove Persky launched a recall campaign, and at the end of June, 50 California residents filed a petition to remove Persky from the bench.
“Judge Persky has a long history of leniency in cases involving sexual assault,” said Michele Landis Dauber, a Stanford law professor who is leading the recall committee. “Here in Silicon Valley, women have had enough.”
The committee has 150 days to collect nearly 59,000 signatures from registered Santa Clara County voters to get it onto the statewide primary election ballot on June 5, 2018.
In response, Persky filed a 198-word statement with the county’s registrar’s office.
The San Jose Mercury-Mews posted the entire statement on its website:
“As a prosecutor, I fought vigorously for victims. As a judge, my role is to consider both sides. California law requires every judge to consider rehabilitation and probation for first-time offenders. It’s not always popular, but it’s the law, and I took an oath to follow it without regard to public opinion or my opinions as a former prosecutor.”
Persky and his supporters say the recall effort tries to incorrectly frame his two-decade legal career by a single, controversial case. On his website fighting the recall, he speaks of his career of going after sexual predators and cited independent analyses that concluded he was a fair judge.
“I have heard thousands of cases,” he said. “I have a reputation for being fair to both sides.”
Members of the Committee to Remove Persky say the Turner case is just one of many sexual assault and domestic violence cases in which Persky has shown deference to defendants, many of whom were student athletes.
In 2015, Persky delayed sentencing for University of Hawaii football player Ikaika Gunderson so he could continue to play football. Gunderson pleaded no contest to a felony count of domestic violence for beating and choking his ex-girlfriend. The conviction carried up to four years in state prison, but Persky offered to lower Gunderson’s charge to a misdemeanor if he completed a year-long domestic violence program. Months later, Gunderson was arrested on another domestic-violence charge.
Meghan Warner, 23, a sexual assault survivor and PhD candidate at Stanford, researched Persky’s former cases for the committee and believes there is a pattern. She is hopeful the recall will offer many women a sense of peace.
“It was hard to see that so many women have been denied justice,” Warner said. “I am confident the campaign will be successful and make women in the county safer.”
