The father of a former Stanford University student convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault on an unconscious woman has caused outrage after he reportedly said his son did not deserve to be sent to prison for “20 minutes of action”.
Brock Turner, 20, was found guilty of three felony sexual assault counts for the January 2015 attack, which was interrupted by two graduate students who saw him assaulting a partially clothed woman behind a trash bin. Turner tried to flee, but the students tackled and pinned him down until police arrived and arrested him.
He was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.
An extract of Turner’s father’s statement to the judge, in which he pleaded for his son not to be imprisoned and to instead be given probation, was tweeted by Michele Dauber, a law professor at Stanford University.
Dan Turner claimed his son’s life had been “deeply altered forever” by the events and that his “every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear and depression”.
He continued: “His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minute of action out of his 20 plus years of life.”
People reacted with anger on Twitter, calling Mr Turner’s offensive comment “shameful,” “chilling,” and “the worst combination of terrifying and unsurprising”.
The judge said that Turner’s father’s statement, along with other positive character references, his age, the role played by alcohol in the crime and his not having previously committed a criminal offence, were mitigating factors.
Judge Persky said he believed Turner would not be a danger to others, claiming that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him”.
Turner, who withdrew from Stanford after his arrest, faced a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison but was given six months in a county jail with three months’ probation. He must also complete a sex offender management programme and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Palo Alto District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he was disappointed the judge did not sentence Turner to prison, adding that “the punishment does not fit the crime”.
“The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victim’s on-going trauma. Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape. Rape is rape.”
Mr Turner’s statement, which is understood to have been read out in court, added that his son “can do so many positive things as a contributor to society and is totally committed to educating other collage age students about the dangers of alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity”.
The victim of Turner’s multiple sexual assaults wrote a powerful letter to her attacker that was read out in court. In her statement, she described how the attack left her emotionally scarred.
"My independence, natural joy, gentleness, and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying became distorted beyond recognition. I became closed off, angry, self-deprecating, tired, irritable, empty," she said.
She also questioned Turner’s intention to establish a high school programme to speak out against college campus drinking culture and “the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that”.
Her statement read: “Campus drinking culture. That’s what we’re speaking out against? You think that’s what I’ve spent the past year fighting for? Not awareness about campus sexual assault, or rape, or learning to recognize consent. Campus drinking culture. Down with Jack Daniels. Down with Skyy Vodka. If you want talk to people about drinking go to an AA meeting. You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone? Show men how to respect women, not how to drink less.”
Her letter has been published in full on Buzzfeed, where it has been viewed more than 4,500,000 times.
