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| The Judge in the Stanford Rape Case Is Being Threatened. Who Is He? | The Judge in the Stanford Rape Case Is Being Threatened. Who Is He? |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A California judge harshly criticized for giving what many say is a too-lenient sentence to a Stanford student convicted of sexual assault has been bombarded by threats of violence against him and his family, an official said on Tuesday. | |
| The judge, Aaron Persky, 54, sentenced Brock Allen Turner, 20, to six months in jail and three years of probation for three felony counts, including assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman and sexually penetrating an intoxicated and unconscious person with a foreign object. | |
| Threatening phone calls have flooded into the Santa Clara County Superior Court since then, said Gary Goodman, a supervising attorney for the county public defender’s office. | |
| “People have been calling the court and leaving messages, and if someone answers, they say, ‘Tell your judge he can go to hell, and I hope his kids get raped and he rots in hell,’ ” said Mr. Goodman, who has defended the judge. “He’s getting threats over this, him and his family, from all over the country. Is that right?” | “People have been calling the court and leaving messages, and if someone answers, they say, ‘Tell your judge he can go to hell, and I hope his kids get raped and he rots in hell,’ ” said Mr. Goodman, who has defended the judge. “He’s getting threats over this, him and his family, from all over the country. Is that right?” |
| Here is what we know about the jurist. | Here is what we know about the jurist. |
| • He is a former corporate lawyer and former criminal prosecutor who was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, according to the Santa Clara County Bar Association. The judge is up for election in November. | • He is a former corporate lawyer and former criminal prosecutor who was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, according to the Santa Clara County Bar Association. The judge is up for election in November. |
| • Judge Persky is a Stanford alumnus. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the university, he was the captain of the men’s lacrosse team, according to a 2002 article in The Stanford Daily. | • Judge Persky is a Stanford alumnus. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the university, he was the captain of the men’s lacrosse team, according to a 2002 article in The Stanford Daily. |
| • While campaigning for a judgeship in 2002, he wrote a biography for the League of Women Voters of California that championed his work as a prosecutor in cases involving violent sex crimes and hate crimes. | |
| “I focus on the prosecution of sexually violent predators, working to keep the most dangerous sex offenders in custody in mental hospitals,” he wrote. If elected, he said, his top priorities would be “honesty and integrity” and “equal access to justice for all.” (He lost the election and was later appointed to the bench.) | |
| • He said he served as a member of the executive committee of the Support Network for Battered Women and the Santa Clara County Network for a Hate-Free Community. | • He said he served as a member of the executive committee of the Support Network for Battered Women and the Santa Clara County Network for a Hate-Free Community. |
| • The judge handed down a six-month sentence to Mr. Turner, a champion swimmer convicted in March of attacking the 23-year-old woman behind a Dumpster on campus in 2015. The victim, who was not a Stanford student, had attended a fraternity party. Two graduate students riding past on bicycles witnessed the assault and intervened to stop it, chasing and tackling Mr. Turner when he fled. | |
| “She was unconscious the entire time,” one of the students, Carl Frederik Arndt, told CBS News. “The guy ran away, and my friend Peter chased after him.” | “She was unconscious the entire time,” one of the students, Carl Frederik Arndt, told CBS News. “The guy ran away, and my friend Peter chased after him.” |
| • The case attracted national public attention on Friday after BuzzFeed published a powerful 7,244-word courtroom statement by the victim, who detailed how the trauma had affected her and her family, and argued that male and class privilege had irrevocably marred both the trial and the sentencing. | |
| • The furor grew after Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor and sociologist, tweeted a statement by the defendant’s father complaining that his son’s life had been ruined for “20 minutes of action.” | • The furor grew after Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor and sociologist, tweeted a statement by the defendant’s father complaining that his son’s life had been ruined for “20 minutes of action.” |
| • Judge Persky was also excoriated for his comments about the defendant. In citing factors weighed in the sentencing, The Guardian reported, the judge said Mr. Turner had “less moral culpability” for his actions because he was intoxicated, and he had “no significant record of prior criminal offenses.” | |
| The judge also appeared to suggest that the jail sentence might be an “antidote” to the anxiety the former student had suffered from the intense media attention. He told the courtroom, according to reports: “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.” | |
| And seeming to accept the defendant’s account, he said: “I take him at his word that subjectively that’s his version of his events. … I’m not convinced that his lack of complete acquiescence to the verdict should count against him.” | |
| Because of his conviction, Mr. Turner has to register as a sex offender. | |
| • Besides a flood of critical comments online against the judge, Professor Dauber, a friend of the victim’s family, said that she was part of an organization seeking to recall him. She said the judge’s ruling had made female college students unsafe and cited what she called the judge’s misapplication of the law in taking Mr. Turner’s age, academic achievement and alcohol consumption into consideration. | • Besides a flood of critical comments online against the judge, Professor Dauber, a friend of the victim’s family, said that she was part of an organization seeking to recall him. She said the judge’s ruling had made female college students unsafe and cited what she called the judge’s misapplication of the law in taking Mr. Turner’s age, academic achievement and alcohol consumption into consideration. |
| “If you’re going to declare that a high-achieving perpetrator is an unusual case, then you’re saying to women on college campuses that they don’t deserve the full protection of the law in the state of California,” the professor said. | “If you’re going to declare that a high-achieving perpetrator is an unusual case, then you’re saying to women on college campuses that they don’t deserve the full protection of the law in the state of California,” the professor said. |
| • A Change.org petition backing the judge’s removal had collected more than 400,000 signatures by Tuesday. In order to successfully remove the judge, the recall campaign said it would need the signatures of at least 20 percent of the votes cast in November in Santa Clara County. | • A Change.org petition backing the judge’s removal had collected more than 400,000 signatures by Tuesday. In order to successfully remove the judge, the recall campaign said it would need the signatures of at least 20 percent of the votes cast in November in Santa Clara County. |
| • The Stanford Daily said the judge’s decision had outraged campus groups. Students were being urged to join a demonstration during the traditional university graduation procession that kicks off commencement on Sunday. | |
| • The Santa Clara County district attorney, Jeff Rosen, whose office tried the Stanford rape case, said in a statement on Monday, “While I strongly disagree with the sentence that Judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case, I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship.” | • The Santa Clara County district attorney, Jeff Rosen, whose office tried the Stanford rape case, said in a statement on Monday, “While I strongly disagree with the sentence that Judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case, I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship.” |
| • Molly O’Neal, the Santa Clara County public defender, said she was “alarmed by the hysteria” surrounding Mr. Turner’s sentence. “The judge is required under California law to consider certain mitigating and aggravating factors,” she said, including past criminal records and the presence of alcohol. “We need to be very careful we’re not hanging judges out to dry based on one decision, especially because he is considered to be a fair and even-tempered judge,” she said. | • Molly O’Neal, the Santa Clara County public defender, said she was “alarmed by the hysteria” surrounding Mr. Turner’s sentence. “The judge is required under California law to consider certain mitigating and aggravating factors,” she said, including past criminal records and the presence of alcohol. “We need to be very careful we’re not hanging judges out to dry based on one decision, especially because he is considered to be a fair and even-tempered judge,” she said. |
| • Mr. Goodman, the deputy public defender, said he had worked with the judge for three decades and harshly criticized the proposed recall. He said Judge Persky was “an exceptional jurist” who had accurately followed the relevant rules and statutes and formulated the sentence in consultation with the probation department. | • Mr. Goodman, the deputy public defender, said he had worked with the judge for three decades and harshly criticized the proposed recall. He said Judge Persky was “an exceptional jurist” who had accurately followed the relevant rules and statutes and formulated the sentence in consultation with the probation department. |
| “You have to judge a case on its merits only,” Mr. Goodman said. “The narrative on social media is ‘We have to judge this case as part of the larger social issue of campus sexual abuse,’ but as a judge, he is not allowed to do that.” | “You have to judge a case on its merits only,” Mr. Goodman said. “The narrative on social media is ‘We have to judge this case as part of the larger social issue of campus sexual abuse,’ but as a judge, he is not allowed to do that.” |
| He rejected the argument that race or social class had played any role in Mr. Turner’s sentence. “People say it’s because he’s a Stanford kid and he’s rich and the judge played lacrosse. No, it’s not done that way. It can’t be done that way,” Mr. Goodman added. “It would have been the exact same result for a person of color.” | He rejected the argument that race or social class had played any role in Mr. Turner’s sentence. “People say it’s because he’s a Stanford kid and he’s rich and the judge played lacrosse. No, it’s not done that way. It can’t be done that way,” Mr. Goodman added. “It would have been the exact same result for a person of color.” |