Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Aaron Persky’s 6-month sentence has sparked a strong public outrage.
Brock Turner, 20, was convicted ofthree felonies, including assault with intent to rape, and could have received a maximum of 14 years in prison. Judge Persky instead sentencedTurner to six months in county jail and 3 years’ probation, citing positive character and a lack of criminal record as the two main reasons for the ruling.
Turner’s father has been quoted saying, “That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action,” before the sentence was finalized, sparking reactions from the public and from the Stanford community. A petitionrequesting the removal of Judge Persky has collected more than 331,000 signatures in hopes of damaging his chance of being reelected.
Is the sentence too lenient for the convicted crimes? How does it compare to similar cases?
Guests:
Tamara Lave, an associate professor of law at University of Miami. She was a deputy public defender for ten years in San Diego, she’s represented people who have been accused of rape.
John Manly, an attorney with the Irvine-based firm Manly, Stewart Finaldi, who specializes in representing victims of sexual assault and abuse