Aaron Persky as the California judge who sentenced a Stanford athlete, Brock Turner, to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious 23-year-old woman behind a dumpster.
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Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky asked to be relieved from hearing criminal matters and transferred to another court, which was granted.
“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”, Presiding Judge Risë Jones Pichon said in the statement.
The move will take effect on 6 September. And some people are really happy about it. The jail time will be followed by three years of probation, and Turner will also be required to register as a sex offender. Persky had claimed that Brock Turner deserved the light terms as “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him”, and Persky did not believe that Turner would be “a danger to others”. Judicial assignments rotate every year and must be approved by the presiding judge.
Supporters of the victim began a recall effort for the judge, saying the sentence was too lenient. The Recall Persky campaign is organizing a rally for that morning at the county Hall of Justice in San Jose with congressional members, local elected leaders, sexual-assault survivors and activists.
Instead, Persky handed down a six month jail sentence, citing the defendant’s age and lack of a record, as well as the overwhelmingly negative effects a stricter sentence could have on his life. Despite the public outcry, the sitting judge stated that she would not be transferring judge Persky out of Palo Alto. But Michele Dauber, head of The Recall Judge Persky Campaign, said the group will proceed with the recall election.
“The issue of his judicial bias in favor of privileged defendants in sex crimes and domestic violence still needs to be addressed by the voters of Santa Clara County”, Dauber told The Associated Press.
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Earlier this week, Persky chose to recuse himself from deciding whether to reduce a child pornography conviction from a felony to a misdemeanor, saying that the months of criticism could hurt perceptions of his impartiality. Legislators say that a lenient sentences, such as in Turner’s case can revictimize rape victims. Turner, who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman behind a garbage bin outside a party at Stanford, was convicted of assault with the intent to rape an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person, and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. In a brief statement he read in court Friday, the judge said he and his family were exposed to publicity surrounding the new case, which resulted in “a personal family situation”.
