Politics September 12, 2016
Why is Brock Turner’s jail time as long as Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston’s relationship? While the female celebrity has a history of short-term relationships, the standard sentence of Turner’s crimes is much longer than three months.
The Washington Post argues, “The majority of convicted rapists in the United States go to prison [and the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows] the average sentence length is 11 years.” But Turner was not convicted of rape. Instead, he was convicted of three felony counts: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated person, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexual penetration of an unconscious person with a foreign object.
Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County’s former district attorney, tells Los Angeles Times that Turner’s conviction in March 2016 “should send him to prison.” Colley says, “It’s an extraordinary sentence. He’ll spend just 90 days in the county jail after being convicted on three sexual assault charges. The standard sentence for those crimes is six years. That is what I’d expect him to receive.”
For details about what has happened, here is a timeline of the events following the People v. Brock Turner case:
Prior to January 2015
Before everything happened, Turner was a freshman at Stanford University, where he was enrolled on a swimming scholarship.
The survivor – described as Jane Doe in court documents – was not a Stanford student. She was 22 years old at the time, working full time and living with her parents in Palo Alto.
January 18, 2015
The New York Times reports that the woman described her decision to go to the Kappa Alpha party on campus as a last-minute decision and a way to spend more time with her younger sister.
But that evening, just an hour past midnight, two Swedish bike riders found Jane Doe, as the Times describes, “on the ground, unresponsive, her hair disheveled and knotted, her body covered in dirt and pine needles, and her dress hitched up above her waist.” One of the bikers yelled at Mr. Turner who “looked up, slowly got off of the victim and began running rapidly away from her.”
According to Turner’s sentencing packet, he posted $150,000 bail and was released from custody that same day.
January 28, 2015
Turner is formally charged with two counts of rape: rape of an intoxicated person and rape of an unconscious person. He was also charged for assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.
February 2, 2015
Turner was arraigned at the Santa Clara County courthouse in Palo Alto, California. ABC reports he pleaded not guilty to his five felony charges. Instead, he alleged that he met the woman at a party and they were “hooking up.” ABC says, “He told investigators he was fondling the woman, but never had sex.”
October 5-7, 2015
The Stanford Daily says Turner attended his preliminary hearing and Judge Aaron Persky of the Palo Alto Courthouse’s Department 89 first listened to the woman’s testimony. The article says, “Her testimony detailed a night that involved drinking and a period of unconsciousness, which ended with her waking up in a hospital and having a rape kit used on her to collect evidence.”
By the end of the hearing, two of the five counts against Turner were dropped: rape of an intoxicated person and rape of an unconscious person.
March 30, 2016
According to The Stanford Daily, a jury found Turner guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious and intoxicated woman. The defense argued that the woman could have consented but “retained no memory of events due to an alcoholic ‘blackout.’” Turner’s attorney also emphasized Turner’s “seemingly upstanding record, bringing forth character witnesses to attest to his moral integrity.” Thus, they plan to appeal the verdict.
May 9, 2016
Turner tells a probation officer that he believed Jane Doe consented to the sexual activity. He says, “We danced and kissed. Then I asked her if she wanted to go back to my room with me. She agreed and we were walking back to my room and she slipped on a slope behind a wooden shed and I got down to the ground with her and we started kissing. I thought we were in the heat of the moment and I asked her if she wanted me to finger her and she said yes. I just thought I would take off her underwear and I fingered her for a minute and we were kissing and her arms were on my back.”
May 31, 2016
The AP website reports that Mike Armstrong, Turner’s attorney, urged the judge to sentence the defendant to four months in jail. He says, “The fact remains that, even after trial in this court, no one can pinpoint exactly when the victim went from being conscious to being unconscious. [Turner] is a fundamentally good young man from a good family with a record of real accomplishments who made bad choices during his time at Stanford of about four months, especially related to alcohol and the 20 minutes or so during the night of January 17-18, 2015 when he committed these serious crimes.”
June 2, 2016
Judge Persky sentenced Turner to six months of jail and three years of probation and also required him to register as a sex offender. According to CNN, the judge defended his decision by saying, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.”
Dayton Daily News also shares that Santa Clara County Jail officials say, “Brock Turner’s three months in jail will include cold meals and little recreation.” Additionally, Turner is in protective custody, but James Jensen, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant says, “He’s not getting any sort of special treatment.”
June 3, 2016
The survivor’s 12-page letter to Turner goes viral. Buzzfeed obtained the letter that the woman read to Turner in court, detailing her experience, memories and feelings about the events that have happened in the past year.
In part of her letter the woman explains, “He has done irreversible damage to me and my family during the trial and we have sat silently, listening to him shape the evening. But in the end, his unsupported statements and his attorney’s twisted logic fooled no one. The truth won, the truth spoke for itself. You are guilty.”
For a summary of the letter, read New York Mag’s article titled, “The 5 Most Powerful Quotes From a Stanford Assault Victim’s Letter to Her Attacker.”
June 5, 2016
The letter Brock Turner’s father, Dan Turner, wrote to the judge prior to his son’s sentencing goes viral. According to The Washington Post, Dan Turner argued that jail time is “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life … He will never be his happy go lucky self with that easy going personality and welcoming smile.”
Additionally, The Guardian says the father claimed his son’s life was “deeply altered” by what happened. “Brock always enjoyed certain types of food and is a very good cook himself. I was always excited to buy him a big rib eye steak to grill or to get his favorite snack for him … Now he barely consumes any food and eats only to exist.”
To read the other letters written by Brock Turner’s friends and family in defense of his character, read The Guardian’s article titled, “Dozens of Letters Urge Leniency for Brock Turner in Stanford Sexual Assault Case.”
June 6, 2016
Stanford University released a statement in response to the ruling. In the statement they say, “Stanford University did everything within its power to assure that justice was served in this case, including an immediate police investigation and referral to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for a successful prosecution … Once Stanford learned the identity of the young woman involved, the university reached out confidentially to offer her support and to tell her the steps we were taking. In less than two weeks after the incident, Stanford had conducted an investigation and banned Turner from setting foot on campus – as a student or otherwise. This is the harshest sanction that a university can impose on a student.”
At this time, a Change.org petition was also launched to remove Judge Persky from the bench for what many people are referring to as a “slap on the wrist.” The petition reads, “Judge Persky failed to see that the fact that Brock Turner is a white male star athlete at a prestigious university does not entitle him to leniency. He also failed to send the message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class, race, gender or other factors. Please help rectify this travesty to justice.”
June 7, 2016
By morning of June 7, the Change.org petition already has over 230,000 signatures. Aside from the petition, there are also dozens of angry posts about the judgment on The Robing Room, an informal site that evaluates judges. One message reads, “This judge failed women everywhere when he sentenced Brock Turner to six months in county jail for three felony counts of sexual assault. This sends a terrifying message to women that the perpetrator’s prospects trump any validity to the violent nature of his crime.”
The Guardian obtained the statement Brock Turner gave to Judge Persky. In part of the letter, Turner seems to blame the “party culture” of his campus as he says, “I never had any trouble with law enforcement and I plan on maintaining that. I’ve been shattered by the party culture and risk taking behavior that I briefly experienced in my four months at school. I’ve lost my chance to swim in the Olympics. I’ve lost my ability to obtain a Stanford degree. I’ve lost employment opportunity, my reputation and most of all, my life.”
The Chicago Tribune, however, reveals information from court files that show Turner’s history with the “party culture.” According to the article, from 2010 to 2014, text messages were found on Turner’s cellphone talking about drinking, smoking marijuana and taking LSD before and after attending Stanford University.
August 25, 2016
CNN reports that Judge Persky has decided to stop hearing criminal cases. According to “a source familiar with the judge’s thinking,” Persky wanted to step aside because “he didn’t want cases before him to receive unfair and unwarranted national attention.” So, starting September 6, Persky will only hear cases in the civil division.
September 2, 2016
After serving just three months of his jail sentence, Brock Turner is released. CNN writes, “The former Stanford University swimmer bowed his head as he rushed past a crowd of reporters. He didn’t say a word before getting into a white SUV awaiting him.”
In response to Turner’s release, Laurie Smith, Santa Clara County Sheriff, tells reporters, “We don’t know who picked him up or where he’s going, but we’re done with him. He should be in prison right now, but he’s not in our custody.”
A couple hours after his release, armed protesters show up to Turner’s house with signs. According to The Guardian, protesters are “calling for the castration and killing of rapists, and some say they plan to frequently return to make him uncomfortable in his own home.” Jaimes Campbell, who brought an AR-15 rifle to the protest, tells The Guardian that he wanted the protests to “impede” Turner’s life.
Campbell says, “He should not be able to go to jail for three months … and then just live his life normally.” Many of the signs carried outside Turner’s door read: “If I rape Brock will I only do three months?” and “Rapist.”
Protesters are also refocusing their attention on Judge Persky. U.S. Representative and former prosecutor, Eric Swalwell, tells CNN, “There is no justice in the light sentence and early release of Brock Turner.” He then shouts to the crowd around him, “Are you ready to give Judge Persky the early release that he deserves?” The crowd then shouted a resounding, “Yes!”
At this point, Business Insider reports more than one million people have signed petitions calling for the removal of Judge Persky from his judicial position.
September 6, 2016
Turner officially registers as a sex offender in his hometown of Bellbrook, Ohio and will be required to update his registration every 90 days. NBC Bay Area shares that Sheriff Gene Fischer says postcards will alert neighbors of a sex offender living nearby and officers will make unannounced visits to his home.
September 7, 2016
Many men and women have expressed their sentiments about Brock Turner’s jail sentence and one of them, Yana Mazurkevich’s series of photographs titled “It Happens,” went viral. The artist tells Bustle, “Assault happens every single day, and by anyone, anywhere. I really wanted to emphasize that with this series, because it’s a topic that we do not discuss enough. Society believes that assault only happens to women … Assault happens to anyone, absolutely anyone.”
And she’s right.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center shows that sexual violence happens to anyone of any gender, race, sexuality and class.
For those of you who know a survivor in need of support, visit these websites to learn what you can do:
