Stanford student Brock Turner will leave jail on Friday after serving only half of his six-month sentence for sexually assaulting another student.
Turner received a now-famous (or, rather, infamous) truncated sentence after being found guilty of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person, and penetration of an unconscious person.
The judge in his case, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, was lenient on Turner because Turner was a star swimmer for Stanford’s swim team, and because Turner’s family complained that Turner had “lost his appetite” in the days and weeks following his crime — a claim Turner’s father made in a tearful letter to Persky before Turner’s sentencing.
Turner could have received up to 14 years in prison. When he is released on Friday, he will have served three months of his six month term, having earned time off his sentence for good behavior in prison. He will still have to register as a sex offender.
Turner faced charges after two people riding by on bikes discovered Turner trying to have sex with an unconscious female behind a dumpster. The bikers caught Turner as he tried to run away from the scene.
Perskey, the judge in the case, is now facing a recall effort, stemming from outrage over his lenient sentencing. Several prospective jurors have refused to serve on juries in his courtroom, he’s been removed from other sexual assault cases, and a demonstration is planned for in front of his courtroom around the time Turner leaves jail on Friday.
The California state legislature is also taking action to eliminate the sentencing loophole that allowed Persky to give such a lenient punishment for Turner’s crime, raising the minimum sentence for sexual assault of an unconscious victim to a three years in prison.