“While I firmly believe in Judge Persky’s ability to serve in his current assignment, he has requested to be assigned to the civil division, in which he previously served”, Pinchon said. Persky recused himself from another sex crime case a week ago, saying there were issues around the perception of his impartiality.
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“This doesn’t change anything”, Dauber tells the Mercury News.
In her widely circulated victim impact statement, the woman known only as “Emily Doe” called the six-month sentence “a soft time-out, a mockery of the seriousness of the assaults”.
Pichon said the reassignment will become effective September 6.
Persky and Judge Vincent J. Chiarello, who lives near the Palo Alto courthouse, will switch places, with Chiarello moving up to Palo Alto. Normally such changes don’t happen until a new year starts.
The judge in that case, Judge Thomas Estes, in District Court in Palmer, Massachusetts, declined to comment.
“It’s entirely appropriate for the judge to ask for a transfer if he felt he could no longer be effective”, said Zitrin, a University of California, San Francisco, law professor.
Persky gave Turner a six-month sentence, far shorter than the six years recommended. Stanford, in response to the sexual assault, has banned hard alcohol from on-campus parties. They had both been drinking heavily.
His words still offend many today, and since early June he has been the subject of a recall campaign which aims to have him removed him from his seat as a judge entirely. Beginning Sept. 6, Persky will only preside over civil cases in order to not bring unwarranted attention to criminal cases he would rule on. “If there’s a perception that a judge may be biased in some way [or] that the system is imbalanced, then that alone is a problem”.
While sentencing the plumber to four days in jail previous year, Persky indicated he might be open to reducing the conviction to a misdemeanor, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
In addition to his supervising judge, attorneys who have argued in front of Persky back his abilities.
“Sentencing a felon convicted of such a crime to probation re-victimises the victim, discourages other victims from coming forward and sends the message that sexual assault of incapacitated victims is no big deal”, said California Assemblymember Bill Dodd, who introduced the measure in June.
This January 2015 booking photo released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office shows Brock Turner.
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Aaron Persky, who faced a high-profile recall campaign after the case, has now requested to be reassigned to the civil division in Santa Clara County superior court, officials announced late Thursday.
