On 18th January 2015, Brock Allen Turner, 19 years old at the time, sexually assaulted an unconscious 22 year old woman behind a bin.
On the night of the crime, both he and the victim attended a party at Kappa Alpha fraternity on Stanford University campus. Turner was found committing the crime by two Swedish Stanford students, Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson, who intervened after seeing Turner on top of the woman who they realised was not moving. Jonsson testified that he said to Turner ‘What the fuck are you doing? She's unconscious.’ Turner tried to flee the scene but Arndt and Jonsson were able to tackle them and keep him pinned to the ground until the police arrived and arrested him.
On 30th March, 2016 he was convicted on three charges: assault with the intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. He faced a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison and prosectors recommended six years. Instead, on 2nd June, 2016, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in county jail. His release is currently scheduled for 2nd September 2016 although he may only serve three months of his sentence for good behaviour. The leniency of the sentence has sparked widespread outrage.
Brock Allen Turner
At the time of the crime, Turner was a freshman at Stanford University, California and and part of the university swim team. He is said to have been headed to the Olympics as part of the US swimming team.
Brock Turner's victim
The 23 year old female, whose identity has not been released, learnt of her ordeal when she came round in hospital, having no memory of it. She wrote a harrowing 12 page and 7000 word letter to Turner, describing her experience. She mentions how she found out the devastating details of her assault whilst on the internet at work meaning, she writes, ‘I learned what happened to me the same time everyone else in the world learned what happened to me’. The letter was released by the district attorney’s office and quickly went viral across the internet, and she was praised for her brutal honesty of the traumatic assault and the subsequent trial. You can read her letter in full here.
Her younger sister, who the victim had gone out with that night, also wrote an emotional statement which she ended by telling Turner that 'The only sorrow I feel for you is that you never got to know my sister before you assaulted her. She's the most wonderful person in the world.'
Brock Turner’s statement
In Turner's own 11 page statement letter submitted to the court he blames his actions on the drinking and party culture of university life. He describes how the swim team he was a part of ‘set no limits on partying or drinking and I saw the guys take full advantage of these circumstances’. He also provides his version of the night's events, describing how him and the victim had kissed and danced at the party before leaving together and that they fell and ended up on the ground – which is where the assault took place. He also says that the victim's actions made him think she was 'satisfied with the sexual interaction that had taken place'.
Subsequent court documents that have been released which include text messages from Turner's phone, show that he did drink and use marijuana before he went to college. This is contrary to his statement that 'Coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol'.
A recent investigation by *In Touch *heard from a 'Stanford swim team insider' who said that 'Brock’s arrest wasn’t surprising to anyone on the team. From the beginning, the women swimmers had found him to be very, very odd. Brock would make comments to the women such as 'I can see your t--s in that swimsuit'. They went on to day that women on the swim team had discussed submitting letters to the judge about their experiences but that 'the discussions were suddenly halted and the letters were never filed'.
Brock Turner’s Father
In a court statement Dan Turner, Brock Turner’s father, said that his son should not go to prison for ’20 minutes of action’. He also blames the ‘trying to fit in at Stanford’ and the ‘culture of alcohol consumption and partying’ on the assault. The letter caused outrage because of it’s inability to address his son’s mistakes and for perpetuating rape culture.
His mother, Carleen Turner, also wrote a four-page letter to Judge Adam Persky in which taking us through his childhood, where he struggled with reading, through school and high school, up to the present day. She notes how he is a ‘shattered broken shell of the person he used to be’ but doesn't mention the victim.
These were part of 39 character letters from family, friends, old teachers as well as others that were submitted to the court on behalf of Turner. Another was written by Leslie Rasmussen, a childhood friend of Turner's, who experienced intense backlash for defending him and writing that it would be unfair 'to base the fate of the next ten + years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn’t remember anything'. Rasmussen who is the drummer in the band Good English apologised for the statement but the band have been dropped from a number of gigs.
Judge Aaron Persky
Presiding over the case was Judge Aaron Persky. For the charges brought against him – 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 was facing up to 14 years in prison and prosecuters had asked the Judge for six years. He said that the character references he’d received, his age, lack of previous criminal record and the part of alcohol had also affected his decision.
Instead Judge Persky saw fit to sentence Turner to six months in prison because ‘a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him’ and ‘I think he will not be a danger to others’. It is likely that Turner will only serve three months of his sentence for good behaviour. A recently released transcript from the sentencing hearing has Judge Persky saying of Turner's version if events that, 'I take him at his word'.
Since his ruling, there has been uproar at the lenient sentencing and many are calling for Judge Persky to be recalled (removed from his position). There are numerous petitions including one which currently has over 1.24 million signatures.
Since his ruling, Judge Persky has been removed from another sexual assault case since throwing out a misdemeanor mail case as the district attorney’s office because they ‘lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing’.
A man who was a juror on the Turner case and found him guilty of the three charges has written a letter to Judge Persky saying that his sentencing ‘mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape’ and ‘shame on you’.
Prospective jurors for other cases have also been refusing to serve him, with one saying ‘I can’t believe what you did’ and another ‘I can’t be here, I’m so upset’.
Brock Turner petition
As well as the peitition calling for Judge Persky's recall, there are petitions against Turner's short sentence. One is calling for Turner to be given the maximum sentence and another is petitioning for a 'fitting' sentence.
Brock Turner’s mugshot
Turner’s actual mugshot, taken on the night of the assault was not released to the public for over 16 months. Instead, the picture that was released was his booking photo when he handed himself in for the start of his jail term on 2nd June 2016. After pressure from the public, his mugshot was released on Monday 6th June. Apparently there was confusion over whose responsibility it is to release the image. This means that prior to his sentencing, Turner was depicted in media reports with more ‘clean cut’ images.
Brock Turner appeal
Turner, who pleaded not-guilty, is said to be appealing his sentence.
You might also be interested in:
Brock Turner Is A Reminder That It's 2016 And We Still Don't Understand Consent
Judge Aaron Persky Has Been Removed From New Sexual Assault Case
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.