A student at a top USA university whose six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2015 was widely criticised for being too lenient has been released from prison.
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He silently walked past a sea of reporters surrounding the steps to the jail’s main entrance before getting into a white SUV parked out front. On Friday, he walked out wearing a blue button-down shirt and dark trousers. He must complete a three-year probation period, undergo random drug and alcohol testing, and register as a sex offender. He will be required to register on the sex offenders’ list for life.
The ex-Stanford swimmer left the Santa Clara County Jail alone just after 6 a.m. local time, carrying a brown paper bag and his jacket tucked underneath his arm. Michele Dauber, who chairs a committee to recall the judge, said she will be outside the jail to protest.
“Anybody charged with and convicted of rape ought to do time in state prison”, Sheriff Smith said.
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said Turner was given a large packet of hate mail on his release. It was her statement to the judge, read during Turner’s sentencing hearing in June, that turned the California case into global news and sparked debate over sexual assault on college campuses, sentencing laws for sex crimes, and media portrayal of such cases.
Fischer said he was concerned with preparing for the now-canceled presidential debate at Wright State University when Turner’s sentencing first made national headlines.
Turner will be released sometime Friday.
Bill AB 2888 instructs that there be mandatory prison sentences for all people convicted of sexual assault. Angry followers of the Brock Turner case mustered even more outrage when they realized that the convicted sex offender’s sentence would likely be shortened well beyond the six months he was sentenced to when “good behavior” was factored in.
“I’d say he should get off after 10 years, if he is a Boy Scout and stays out of trouble”, Dauber said. Supporters of the campaign to recall Judge Aaron Persky have said they will hold a rally later Friday.
“Are you ready to give Judge Persky the early release that he deserves? Is it time to release Judge Persky?” asked Dublin Congressman Eric Swalwell.
The former Stanford swimmer who served just half of a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus is now a free man. Turner, then 19, was arrested after two students saw him outside of a fraternity house on top of an unconscious woman.
Turner told sheriff’s investigators that he was heavily drinking at the party where he met the woman, kissed her outside on the ground and believed the sex was consensual.
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Criticism of the sentence escalated after the unidentified victim’s 12-page, single-spaced letter that she read in court went viral after it was published by the media.
