Convicted felon Brock Turner was released from Santa Clara County Main Jail on Friday morning, September 2. The All-American Stanford University swimmer served half of controversial six-month sentence that caused a national uproar and started a conversation on white male privilege. He is expected to return to his parents' residence in Ohio where he will be required to register as a sex offender.
Turner's case became one of the year's biggest justice system scandals, when on June 2, Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky shunned prosecutors' recommendation that he serve six-years, and instead sentenced Turner to a lenient 180-days in a moderate county jail setting, and a sex offender rehabilitation program. "A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others," Pesky said of his decision, drawing the public's outrage. Upon conviction, Turner had faced up to 14-years behind bars on three counts of felony sexual assault. The charges stemmed from a January 2015 incident in which he was caught sexually imposing himself on an unconscious 22-year-old woman while studying in Sweden.
"If I had been sexually assaulted by an un-athletic guy from a community college, what would his sentence be? If a first time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be?," his victim, who has chosen to remain anonymous, has reportedly said in a statement about his sentence.
Source: npr.org
