JUDGE SENTENCES STANFORD RAPIST AS IF HE ONLY COMMITTED ILLEGAL ENTRY

An effort is underway to recall Judge Aaron Persky because he sentenced Brock Turner to only six months in jail for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster outside a campus frat party

BarkGrowlBite | June 8, 2016

On January 18, 2015, Brock Turner was observed by two Swedish graduate students sexually assaulting an unconscious 22-year-old woman behind a dumpster by the Kappa Alpha fraternity house. The two Swedes interceded and when Turner ran off, they tackled him and held him for the police.

In March, Turner was convicted of 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. Persky sentenced the Stanford swim team member to three years' probation and has to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. The judge ordered Turner to serve six-month in jail as part of his probation.

Prosecutors recommended six years in state prison, noting that Turner had lied to probation officials, saying he was an inexperienced drinker from a small town in Ohio, when text messages dating back to high school show he frequently used alcohol and drugs including marijuana and LSD. They also noted that Turner had been previously accused of aggression toward women and has refused to admit he committed a sexual assault.

"Emily Doe," the victim, wrote out a 12-page victim impact statement. Here are just a few portions of it:

You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today.

You ran because you said you felt scared. I argue that you were scared because you’d be caught, not because you were scared of two terrifying Swedish grad students. The idea that you thought you were being attacked out of the blue was ludicrous. That it had nothing to do with you being on top my unconscious body. You were caught red handed, with no explanation. When they tackled you why didn’t say, “Stop! Everything’s okay, go ask her, she’s right over there, she’ll tell you.” I mean you had just asked for my consent, right? I was awake, right? When the policeman arrived and interviewed the evil Swede who tackled you, he was crying so hard he couldn’t speak because of what he’d seen.

I learned that my ass and vagina were completely exposed outside, my breasts had been groped, fingers had been jabbed inside me along with pine needles and debris, my bare skin and head had been rubbing against the ground behind a dumpster, while an erect freshman was humping my half naked, unconscious body. But I don’t remember, so how do I prove I didn’t like it.

I was told he hired a powerful attorney, expert witnesses, private investigators who were going to try and find details about my personal life to use against me, find loopholes in my story to invalidate me and my sister, in order to show that this sexual assault was in fact a misunderstanding. That he was going to go to any length to convince the world he had simply been confused.

You said, you would have stopped and gotten help. You say that, but I want you to explain how you would’ve helped me, step by step, walk me through this. I want to know, if those evil Swedes had not found me, how the night would have played out. I am asking you; Would you have pulled my underwear back on over my boots? Untangled the necklace wrapped around my neck? Closed my legs, covered me? Tucked my bra back into my dress? Would you have helped me pick the needles from my hair? Asked if the abrasions on my neck and bottom hurt? Would you then go find a friend and say, Will you help me get her somewhere warm and soft? I don’t sleep when I think about the way it could have gone if the Swedes had never come. What would have happened to me? That’s what you’ll never have a good answer for, that’s what you can’t explain even after a year.

To sit under oath and inform all of us, that yes I wanted it, yes I permitted it, and that you are the true victim attacked by guys for reasons unknown to you is sick, is demented, is selfish, is stupid. It shows that you were willing to go to any length, to discredit me, invalidate me, and explain why it was okay to hurt me. You tried unyieldingly to save yourself, your reputation, at my expense.

Now to address the sentencing. When I read the probation officer’s report, I was in disbelief, consumed by anger which eventually quieted down to profound sadness. My statements have been slimmed down to distortion and taken out of context. I fought hard during this trial and will not have the outcome minimized by a probation officer who attempted to evaluate my current state and my wishes in a fifteen minute conversation, the majority of which was spent answering questions I had about the legal system.

I told the probation officer I do not want Brock to rot away in prison. I did not say he does not deserve to be behind bars. The probation officer’s recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft time-out, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, and of the consequences of the pain I have been forced to endure.

The probation officer weighed the fact that he has surrendered a hard earned swimming scholarship. If I had been sexually assaulted by an un-athletic guy from a community college, what would his sentence be? If a first time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be? How fast he swims does not lessen the impact of what happened to me.

Is this another “affluenza” case? A rich kid who was so spoiled that he didn’t know that raping an unconscious woman was wrong.

Turner’s father complained that since his son was found guilty of sexual assault:

“His every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear and depression. Now he barely consumes any food and eats only to exist. These verdicts have broken and shattered him and our family in so many ways. His life will never be the one that he dreamt about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.”

20 minutes of action? Like a Western flick, right? And we ought to tar and feather Emily Doe and ride her out of Palo Alto on a rail.

As for that 6-months jail sentence, Turner can get out in three months with good behavior.

Persky agreed with the probation officer that because of his youth and clean record, and because he had lost his Stanford swimming scholarship, a prison sentence was not in order. Persky said, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.”

Turner plans to appeal his conviction. Dennis Riordan, a well-known San Francisco appellate attorney, was in court on Thursday and will represent Turner in the appeal.

Persky and the probation officer must believe that when Turner stuck his dick into an unconscious Emily Doe’s vagina, he was only committing illegal entry. Or how about trespassing? Disturbing the ‘piece’?

I believe there are good grounds for removing Persky from the bench. But what about the probation officer? They ought to fire his sorry ass!