On 2nd June, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Stanford University student Brock Turner, 20, to six months in jail as well as lifetime registration as a sex offender and three years probation for the sexual assault of an unconcious woman. He was facing up to 14 years in prison for his crime and the lenient sentencing has caused widespread uproar, especially as he is only expected to serve half of his sentence.
Judge Persky has since been removed from a sexual assault case after a request filed by the district attorney’s office. The request came after he threw out a misdemeanor mail case (tampering with post is a federal crime in the U.S.) mid-trial, meaning it did not go to a jury for deliberation.
Following this, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen filed the challenge on that belief that Judge Persky is biased.
According to the BBC, Rosen said in a statement that, ‘We are disappointed and puzzled at Judge Persky's unusual decision to unilaterally dismiss a case before the jury could deliberate.
‘After this and the recent turn of events, we lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing in which a male nurse sexually assaulted an anesthetised female patient.’
Last week more than 10 prospective jurors refused to serve on a different case that he sitting on another case being of his ruling on the Turner case. One juror is reported to have said ‘I can’t be here, I’m so upset’ and another said ‘I can’t believe what you did’.
There are numerous petitions calling for Judge Persky to be removed from the bench for his decision in the Turner case including one on Change.org which has accrued over 1.2 million signatures of support since it was started.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.