Stanford University

Ex-Stanford Swimmer Sentenced to 6 Months Jail, Probation for Rape

DA: "The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault or the victim’s ongoing trauma"

A former Stanford University swimmer was sentenced Thursday to 6 months in jail and three years probation for sexually assaulting a woman on campus in January 2015.

Brock Turner, 20, was facing up to 10 years in prison for the rape of the unconscious, intoxicated woman after a fraternity party at the Palo Alto campus. He was taken into custody immediately after the sentencing.

Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen was disappointed in the sentence handed down by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, saying Turner should have been sent to prison.

"The punishment does not fit the crime," Rosen said in a statement. "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. Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape. Rape is rape. And I will prosecute it as such."

Turner was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault in March. The victim — a 23-year-old Palo Alto native and Gunn High School graduate — did not want to have sex with Turner after the frat party on Jan. 18, 2015, prosecutors said.

The victim, who graduated from UC Santa Barbara, said she drank about four shot glasses of whiskey before leaving for the party, then drank vodka at the fraternity party. The next thing she said she remembered was waking up at Valley Medical Center in San Jose, where a deputy told her she may have been a victim of sexual assault.

A Stanford student testified during the trial that, on the night of the attack, he was bicycling on campus and saw Turner on top of a woman who wasn’t moving. He and another bicyclist pinned Turner to the ground when he tried to run away, the student said.

The victim read a statement in court on Thursday, according to the DA's office, which posted the statement in full online.

"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," she said.

After his arrest, Turner withdrew from the university. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying the woman eagerly engaged in sex after dancing with him at the party.

Turner could be out of jail in about three months, at which time he must complete three years of probation.

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