Stanford Sex Assault Case Juror Appalled By 'Ridiculously Lenient' Sentencing
PALO ALTO (CBS/AP) -- A juror who helped convict a former Stanford University student-athlete of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman thinks the presiding judge's "ridiculously lenient" six-month jail sentence has made a mockery of the verdict.
The Palo Alto Weekly on Monday published a letter that the juror sent to Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky over the weekend to convey his shock and disappointment over Brock Turner's sentence.
The man is the first juror to speak publicly about the case. He spoke to the Palo Alto Weekly anonymously to maintain his privacy in a case that has attracted intense media coverage.
In his letter, the juror wrote he expected the predominantly male panel's "quick and decisive finding" of guilt to yield a sentence severe enough to deter future campus sexual assaults.
"After the guilty verdict I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults, but with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape," the juror wrote to Persky, according to the Palo Alto Weekly.
"Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person," the juror wrote, according to the Palo Alto Weekly.
"It seems to me that you really did not accept the jury's findings. We were unanimous in our finding of the defendant's guilt and our verdicts were marginalized based on your own personal opinion," the letter reads, according to the Palo Alto Weekly.
