New legislation proposed following the Stanford sex assault case
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, (on the left), announcing new legislation Wednesday, inspired by Stanford sex assault case.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - Santa Clara County's district attorney announced new legislation Wednesday that he says was inspired by the woman who was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner at Stanford University.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen proposed Assembly Bill 2888. The bill would make penalties for sexual assault of an unconscious person stricter. He wants the sex assault of an unconscious person to be ineligible for probation.
“We need to change the law to protect the next Emily Doe from the next Brock Turner,”’ said Rosen. “Let's give the next campus sexual assault victim no reason to fear that her attacker will end up walking around free after spending less time in jail than it takes to finish a single college semester.”
Attention on the Turner case grew, after he was sentenced to six months in the county jail.
Critics have included abuse victims, women's rights groups, and Stanford students.
Turner's father wrote a letter arguing that his son should receive probation, rather than jail time.
"His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve," wrote Dan A. Turner."That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life."
Brock Turner was convicted in March of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at a fraternity party in January 2015.
There are online petitions and a highway billboard calling for the judge in the case, Judge Aaron Persky to be removed from the bench.
Prosecutors earlier this month blocked Persky from hearing an unrelated sex crimes case.