The California judge who sentenced former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, 20, to six-month in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious young woman has been bombarded with death threats amid complaints that the sentence was too lenient, an official said on Tuesday.
The judge, Aaron Persky, sentenced Turner to six months in jail and three years of probation on three felony counts of sexual assault, including assault with intent to rape, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. The two formal rape charges under California state law were dropped at the preliminary hearing.
Judge Persky has been accused of erring on the side of leniency after reducing Turner’s prison sentence from 14 years to 6 months, fearing a longer jail sentence would have a “severe impact on him.” Turner had no record of prior criminal offenses.
The light sentencing sparked nationwide outrage. A Change.org petition calling for the judge’s removal has, at the time of writing, reached more than 850,000 signatures. A string of death threats have also been made, leading to an increase in security, court officials told Reuters.
The uproar — fueled in part by the victim’s powerful testimony during the trial, widely relayed by the media — revived a larger conversation about sexual assaults on campus and college drinking culture.
The Santa Clara County district attorney, Jeff Rosen, said in a statement on Monday, “While I strongly disagree with the sentence that Judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case, I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship.”
“I am so pleased that the victim’s powerful and true statements about the devastation of campus sexual assault are being heard across our nation. She has given voice to thousands of sexual assault survivors,” Rosen added.
