‘20 minutes of action’: father defends Stanford student son convicted of sexual assault
The father of a former Stanford University athlete convicted on multiple charges of sexual assault has said his son should not have to go to prison for “20 minutes of action”.
Brock Turner, a former swimmer at Stanford University, was on Thursday sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and probation for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.
The 20-year-old from Dayton, Ohio – who was convicted of three felonies, including assault with intent to rape – faced a maximum of 14 years in prison.
But Turner was expected to spend only three months of a six-month sentence in county jail after the judge, Aaron Persky, said positive character references and lack of a criminal record had persuaded him to be more lenient. Prison would have a “severe impact on him”, the judge said.
The decision sparked anger on social media, with many quoting from the victim’s impact statement, which went viral after being published by international media.
With the usual proviso that we did not see "all of the evidence", this scum ball should be doing substantially more time. "The half a pound of chopped ground crap
Is still a scum ball when it goes downtown." (apologies to Prine). Stanford/shamford for this low life.
There is a petition to get either the judicial oversight board or the voters of that jurisdiction (Santa Clara County) to remove this judge. Seems like quite an effort, but there is a substantial amount of outrage. While I think this type of judgment call generally would not get a judge in trouble with the oversight board, he stepped way deep into a hot button issue (and one that actually deserves to be so), so who knows. Getting the voters to remove him also is a high bar, but again, it is a pretty motivating issue. My guess is he resigns pretty soon.
There should be a 5 year minimum in prison for the rape he committed. Even 5 years might not satisfy everyone, especially the victim, but at least it would be a real punishment for the crime.
Maybe the judge has a catholic priest in his family and he's a bit myopic as to what the word "rape" actually means. Harsh, maybe, but I just finished watching "Spotlight" again. (A chilling and riveting film.)
Aaron Persky:
Ironically, Persky is a member of the Support Network for Battered Women and the Santa Clara County Network for a Hate-Free Community. For a judge he appears to be quite conflicted.
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
Maybe the judge has a catholic priest in his family and he's a bit myopic as to what the word "rape" actually means.
Ray, I've known a lot of Catholic priests, and I very seriously doubt that any of them that I've known would have a problem understanding what rape is...
... Ray, I've known a lot of Catholic priests, and I very seriously doubt that any of them that I've known would have a problem understanding what rape is... That was a rube-type comment.
LJ, I grew up in a family with priests (one monsignor), bishops, and nuns all around me. Some in high places who dealt personally and directly with the Vatican. Whereas most of these servants of God were honorable and caring, and true to their vows, I know for a fact the depths of depravity that some of them sank to. To them the word "rape" was obviously subjective.
My mom had a priest cousin who was "absent on leave"... twice. He died in your neighborhood quite a few years ago. Had you met him you never would have thought of him as a scumbag, child molester but that was, in fact, his secret life.
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
Turns out there were a couple of heroes in this story. Had these two young men not stopped to assist the victim, apprehend the rapist and testify at his trial, there would have been no case, the victim would have had no justice, and the scumbag rapist would have gotten away with it.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
On the other side of the water, Bob Hewitt (75) has had his appeal overturned, against a 2015 sentence of 6 years in prison for rape (by sexual imposition owing to his fame and power) of two women back in the 1980s. Evidently his status as a former multiple tennis grand slam champion didn't help:
his fame did not earn him special treatment.
The court said it was regrettable that it had taken so long to bring him to justice.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Is all this vitriol supported by his record? Is his decision really so wide of the mark to make the rest of his record unimportant? Or is everyone really just using this case to prove how truly deeply they care and to have someone they can all enjoy yelling at together?
