Former Stanford swimming star gets 6 months in jail for sexual assault at frat party
PALO ALTO (BCN) - Despite facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a former Stanford University swimming star was sentenced to just 6 months in county jail today for sexually assaulting a drunk and unconscious woman on campus last year.
Brock Allen Turner, 20, was remanded into custody after being sentenced by Judge Aaron Persky. He was convicted in March of three felony counts: rape of an unconscious person, digital penetration with an unconscious person and assault with the intent to commit rape.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office filed five charges against Turner for the Jan. 18, 2015, sexual assault of a woman outside a fraternity party at the Kappa Alpha house at 664 Lomita Court on the Stanford campus.
Two men on bicycles saw Turner on top of a woman on the ground near a Dumpster shortly after 1 a.m.
When they confronted Turner, he ran, but they chased after him and pinned him to the ground. The woman was unconscious and not moving and was taken to Santa Clara Medical Center in San Jose, where she remained unconscious for hours before waking up and telling investigators she had lost her memory after midnight.
Turner told investigators that he had met the woman at the party and kissed her on the ground outside and the intercourse seemed consensual.
He admitted to drinking heavily, including having seven beers and some whiskey, before the encounter. But a jury found him guilty of three felonies.
Prosecutors said that the victim read a statement before today's sentencing, telling Turner, "You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today. The damage is done, no one can undo it."
"And now we both have a choice. We can let this destroy us, I can remain angry and hurt and you can be in denial, or we can face it head on, I accept the pain, you accept the punishment, and we move on," she said.
But despite the severity of the crimes, the judge sentenced Turner to only 6 months in jail. District Attorney Jeff Rosen released a statement today criticizing the light sentence.
"The punishment does not fit the crime," Rosen said. "The predatory offender has failed to take responsibility, failed to show remorse and failed to tell the truth. The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victim's ongoing trauma."
Turner -- a Dayton, Ohio, resident -- was a freshman at Stanford at the time of the assault but withdrew from the university after charges were filed. Once released from jail he will be required to register as a sex offender for life.