Upon arrest, Turner’s blood alcohol content was 0.17%, while Doe’s was estimated to have been between 0.22%-0.24% at the time of the assault. Doe did not remember events from some point after she arrived at the party to hours later in the hospital. Her last memory seemed to have been around midnight when she made telephone calls to friends. January 28, 2015 Brock Turner was indicted on five charges: 1. Rape of an intoxicated person, 2. Rape of an unconscious person, 3. Assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, 4. Sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and 5. Sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. The two formal rape charges were dropped at a preliminary hearing after DNA testing revealed no genetic …show more content…
Persky is a respected judge by many attorneys, and seen as one who is not soft on crime or who gives lenient sentences. However, factors surrounding this trial have put him under scrutiny. Although judges are allowed to deviate from the California statutory minimum sentences after consideration of a defendants lack of criminal history and effects incarceration will have on that defendant, Turners sentence of six months in prison is a large deviation from the two year statutory minimum. Many credit this leniency with the fact that Persky is a Stanford Alumni, and was also an athlete while he was a student. Reactions to this sentencing have lead to petitions calling for Judge Persky’s removal, the refusal of jurors to serve in trials overseen by Judge Persky, and the filed motion for recusal by Rosen in a different sexual assault case. Responses in support of Judge Persky more call into question factors regarding the effect Persky’s removal would have on the justice system. For instance, fighting the leniency of Turner’s sentence may lead to future mass incarcerations and the imposition of harsher sentences by other