After Brock Turner was convicted of raping an unconscious woman behind a frat house dumpster, the judge in his case sided with the former Stanford swimmer’s version of events — saying “I take him at his word.”
Even after a 12-person jury didn’t buy Turner’s defense, that he was too intoxicated to realize his victim hadn’t given him consent, Judge Aaron Persky said that he believed the disgraced former athlete, according to a transcript of Turner’s June 2 sentencing hearing.
“What he (Turner) tried to do at trial — and — and it’s still his perception — was to explain that, in his drunken state, he remembered consent,” defense attorney Michael Armstrong said during sentencing, according to the transcripts obtained by CNN.
Persky said he agreed that “there is less moral culpability attached to the defendant who is legally intoxicated,” adding he believed Turner showed remorse for his actions.
“I mean, I take him at his word that, subjectively, that's his version of events. The jury, obviously found it not to be the sequence of events,” Persky said.
The reviled judge in Turner’s case gave his reasoning after handing down what many saw was a punishment that didn’t fit the crime.
Turner received a mere six-month sentence in jail, after prosecutors had asked for six years in state prison for the assault.
“I don’t agree with the court’s description that this case is less serious because there was alcohol involved,” Prosecutor Alaleh Kianerci said in response to Persky’s sentencing.
Santa Clara County jail inmates can serve 50% of their sentences if they have a clean record, which means Turner could be released as soon as Sept. 2, serving a short three-month stint behind bars.
Turner was also booted from the USA Swimming organization and will have to register as a sex offender for life.
The Dayton, Ohio native was convicted after a jury found him guilty of three felony counts of sexual assault for attacking a Stanford alum while she lay unconscious and alone outside of a frat party they had both attended the night of Jan. 17, 2015.
The 23-year-old victim in the case penned an emotional impact statement that stirred up the sympathy of the country after it was published on BuzzFeed and went viral.
Even if the sentence is light, hopefully this will wake people up,” the victim told Buzzfeed. “I want the judge to know that he ignited a tiny fire. If anything, this is a reason for all of us to speak even louder.”
Numerous online campaigns have called for Persky to be removed from his position as a county judge, including a change.org petition with over one million signatures.
Persky is up for reelection in November and is currently unopposed, barring a write-in candidate.
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