Turner, a Stanford swimmer, was sentenced in June to six months in jail and three years probation, a decision that triggered worldwide outrage and an effort to have judge Aaron Persky removed from his post.
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Judge Aaron Persky, who came under fire for what many saw as a light sentence for former Standford University swimmer Brock Turner, recently disqualified himself from another sex case.
Persky also indicated he would be willing to reduce Chain’s felony to a misdemeanor if he stayed out of trouble.
Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster after a Stanford frat party earlier this year.
But Persky said in a brief statement to the court Monday that while on a family vacation, he’d been exposed to “publicity surrounding this case” that could have made a reasonable observer question his impartiality. “This publicity has resulted in a personal family situation such that ‘a person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial'”.
Persky has not responded to requests for comment.
Robert Chain, the plumber, was convicted of having nearly 200 child pornography images – some of the images showed children between 5 and 12-years-old. The judge said he would consider reducing the conviction if Chain complied with the terms of his probation. Madden didn’t return a phone call Tuesday.
University of California, Berkeley, law professor Christopher Kutz said “no formal or actual conflict” appears to exist between Persky and the child porn case, but the “appearance that he seems susceptible to political pressure” does.
“It’s hard to look at this policy with respect to fraternities and be very optimistic”, Douglas Fierberg, a Washington, DC-based attorney with experience in college hazing cases, told USA Today.
Just weeks before the fall semester begins, and a few months after the sexual assault case, university officials are making it clear to students, things will be different.
Organizers of an effort to get Persky removed from the bench say they will begin collecting signatures in April to qualify the issue for the November 2017 ballot.
An official with the women’s advocacy group UltraViolet says both cases are examples of “rape culture at work”. “Beer and wine are the only alcoholic beverages that can be present at all on-campus undergraduate student parties”.
Stanford University has banned hard liquor at undergraduate parties on campus, according to the Associated Press.
The role of alcohol in the sexual assault drew scrutiny, particularly because Turner’s defense cited his impairment because of heavy drinking the night of the assault.
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Turner was banned from stepping foot on Stanford’s campus, losing his scholarship and standing as a student, but critics urged the university to take more steps to address sexual assault on campus in the wake of national discussion about rape culture on college campuses.
