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How Brock Turner’s case sparked nationwide outrage

 SANTA CLARA COUNTY (KRON) – The case of Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, took the nation by storm in 2016.

The campus sexual assault case grabbed the nation’s attention and sparked outrage when he was sentenced to only six months in jail.

The victim’s eloquent and impassioned letter to her attacker struck a chord with people and fueled the outrage.

Turner ended up only spending 90 days in county jail after a jury found him guilty of three felony counts of sexual assault.

His transformation from Olympic hopeful to public enemy began behind a dumpster near a fraternity house on campus. Two students found him on top of an unconscious woman. When he tried to flee, they chased him and held him down until the police got there.

Turner says he had been drinking heavily and thought the sex was consenual. The jury didn’t buy it and the District Attorney asked for six years in prison.

Turner’s father asked for leniency saying his son should not be punished for “20 minutes of action.”

The 6-month sentence triggered a national debate and a local firestorm.

A petition circulating online called for the removal of a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky.

The California Commission on Judicial Performance cleared Persky of misconduct saying that there was no evidence that he displayed any bias in his treatment of Turner.

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