Aaron Persky, the California judge criticized for his sentence of former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner, has been recalled by voters, making him the first California judge recalled since 1932.
According to The New York Times, Persky had served on the Santa Clara County Superior Court since the year 2003, and had been slated to continue his term through 2022. But voters chose to recall him in the culmination of a campaign that started shortly after his sentencing of Turner in 2016.
Turner, who was a freshman on the Stanford swimming roster during the 2014-2015 season, was arrested in January of 2015 after being found on top of an unconscious woman near a fraternity house on the Stanford campus and was immediately expelled from the university and the swim team. By March of 2016, he was eventually found guilty of three charges: assault with the intent to commit rape, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person and sexual penetration of an unconscious person. Two months later, Persky sentenced Turner to six months in county jail. Turner would only wind up spending three months in jail. He is no longer eligible for USA Swimming membership, and he will have to register as a sex offender for life (though he recently appealed his conviction with the hope of overturning that requirement).
The decision was widely criticized, and went viral even outside the swimming community. Turner could have faced up to 10 years in prison, and reports said the prosecution asked Persky for six years in prison. Persky referenced Turner’s age and lack of criminal history in handing out only six months in jail, but that decision was widely criticized on social media and elsewhere, and a campaign began almost immediately to recall Persky.
The New York Times reports that recall supporters gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot of an election this week. Persky released a statement saying that despite his background as a prosecutor, he had a professional and legal responsibility to consider alternatives to prison for offenders without prior convictions:
“As a judge, my role is to consider both sides,” he said in the statement. “It’s not always popular, but it’s the law, and I took an oath to follow it without regard to public opinion or my opinions as a former prosecutor.”
Brock Turner is a RAPIST.
Prisons are still filled with people busted for low level drug offenses, while a convicted rapist walks after 6 months. What is the greater threat to public safety…some one with a few joints or a rapist?
Agreed James. State and federal drug laws generally have mandatory sentences. And the 3 strikes and your out laws of the 1980’s stuck millions in prison for life for stupid dog-whistle political reasons. We have more people incarcerated in the US than anywhere else in the world. Most are for drug crimes. Because if this and overcrowded jails, really bad people are getting lenient sentences or shortened time. Just plain stupid IMO. While I’m not totally comfortable with recalling a judge because they are supposed to be independent, it does send a message to the bench that people take sexual assault seriously—which is a good thing.
I think you have to consider all of the objectives of the criminal justice system: (1) protection of society, (2) retribution, (3) deterrence, (4) rehabilitation, and (5) restoration. How one views a particular sentence is often a function of how much weight one puts on any one or more of the objectives of the punishment.
So where was the retribution to, & restitution & restoration for, “Emily Doe”? Seems Persky conveniently (blindly?) left that out – nothing for her even after her 7,000 word rebuttal of Brock T. Are he (Persky) & Turner’s father (shamefully saying no jail for his son for a mere “20 minutes of action”) really that clueless, that disrespectful of women in general?
Unless you are part of the trial, it’s just arm chair quarterbacking and cherry picking to weigh in on the ultimate results. My guess is that restoration probably came by way of a civil action. I wouldn’t know how much punishment is appropriate. I can assure you one thing, the kid’s life, and the victim’s, have been changed forever. If you gave Turner 6 months prison time, or 2 years, or 32 years or life, you’d probably still have a disagreement over the punishment. For some people (who apparently never made a mistake in their lives), he probably should have received the death penalty. There’s a balance in there somewhere, and it’s quite a challenge to find it.
Thanks, good points.
I agree he was let off too easy, and I know the downvotes will be coming, but it’s both highly unlikely and impossible for you to know that perpetrators of sexual assault “NEVER” get caught the first time. At least some of them actually are first time offenders.
Elected judge lol
According to a 2008 article by the New York Times, “87% of all state court judges face elections and 39 states elect at least some of their judges, according to the National Center for State Courts.”
Elected judges are most common in the US. The only other two countries that elect judges are Switzerland, in smaller cantons, and the Japanese Supreme Court.
Yeah, it’s not normal.
Judge is a really powerfull and difficult position, and their decision should based on the merit not on political gain..
There is some level of policing it so to speak. Typically, the Bar Associations and the attorneys weigh in heavily on candidates and they grade them. The practicing attorneys are the ones that truly know how competent a particular judge is. In the State of Texas, the election of judges is nonpartisan. All of this helps some, but …
I understand where he is coming from by his quote at the end of the article, but I would like to know the statistic of people let off easy who later became worse.
Only wish we could have recalled Judge Vincent Chiarello whose name had appeared on the Santa Clara County ballot right before Judge Persky. Judge Chiarello had jurisdiction of Alycia Mesitit and her father, the accuser claiming Alycia’s mother was the abuser, was given full custody of Alycia. He sent her older brother to the east coast and then drugged, raped, let his friends rape, videotaped it, watched the video for years and then murdered her and buried her body in his backyard. Judge Chiarello could care less. The father had two attorneys, Alycia’s Mom had none and was owed child support. We the voters put both of these judges names on the ballot but only Judge Persky got removed. Judge… Read more »
Social media wasn’t around back then to rally supporters.
Now social media gives people such an incredible platform, it has potential to exploit the weekness of direct democracy — ‘mob rule’
I find it difficult to believe a judge from California would give such a lenient sentence if he didn’t believe it was for the best of everyone. While what Brock did is horrendous, his life is ruined regardless of how much time he spends in prison. I just think we might be going down a slippery slope by recalling judges because we disagree with their sentencing.
Isn’t it the essence of American democracy to be able to recall judges through public voting?
No its american democracy to elect the people who make the laws that the judges use to sentence. This is also a state by state circumstance rather than federal.
On a brighter note always glad to have swimming in the national news spotlight!
Wow – glad to have swimming in the national news spotlight ? That’s your take away ?
This particular judge has had an established pattern of leniency toward sexual assault and abuse perpetrators in general and toward athletes in particular which preceded the Turner case.
Persky was a 1984 Stanford alum too.
The court system in general could probably use an overhaul. Realistically, the courts are not practicing blind justice as it proclaims – the white and the wealthy are systematically granted undue leniency. This is also true with powerful people, athletes, and celebrities (because of their power). It’s an un-fun sobering perspective.
Please state your statistics that prove white people get lenient sentences
You’ve got to be kidding. Only the SAM (Simplistic Angry Male) crowd desperately wants to pretend that whites are treated unfairly. Granted, we’ve got an administration that plays to SAM fears each and every day.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/black-men-sentenced-to-more-time-for-committing-the-exact-same-crime-as-a-white-person-study-finds/?utm_term=.2364fbcdda13
>While what Brock did is horrendous, his life is ruined regardless of how much time he spends in prison.
As it should be. He should have thought about consequences before doing his horrendous act.
He SHOULD have a tough time ahead. The more that people write “Brock Turner is a rapist,” the more hits it will get on Google. And, if it’s on the internet, it lives FOREVER.
Brock Turner is a rapist. Brock Turner, rapist.
As long as we say that the power belongs to the people, eventually the people need to be the ones with the power. The state of California disagreed with his rulings, and as such they have chosen someone else. The definition of democracy at work.