Father of a university student convicted of sexual assault

The father of a Stanford University student
convicted of sexual assault has sparked
outrage on social media by saying his son
should not have been jailed for "20 minutes of
action".
Brock Turner, 20, was sentenced to six
months in jail for sexually assaulting an
unconscious woman last year.
The victim's impact statement, which was
read out in court, was also widely shared on
social media.
The judge expressed concern about the
impact of prison on Turner.
Prosecutors said that in January 2015, Turner
had been seen by two witnesses sexually
assaulting the woman, who was lying on the
ground, unconscious, on the Stanford campus.
They said Turner had tried to run away when
challenged by the witnesses, but the pair had
tackled him and held him until police officers
arrived.
A former top swimmer at the university,
Turner was found guilty in March of three
felony charges. Prosecutors wanted a
sentence of six years in state prison for him,
the Mercury News reported.
His sentencing, to six months and probation,
also required him to register as a sex offender
for the rest of his life.
In an excerpt of a statement to the court
before the sentencing, Brock's father, Dan,
said his son's life had been "deeply altered
forever".
"His life will never be the one that he
dreamed about and worked so hard to
achieve," he said.
"That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of
action out of his 20 plus years of life."
Many Twitter users reacted angrily, both to
the sentence and the tone of the father's
letter.
Some 28,000 people have also signed a
petition to recall the sentencing judge, Aaron
Persky, for passing what they called a "lenient
sentence".
Mr Persky said a harsher prison penalty
would have had "a severe impact" on Turner.
In his decision, he said positive character
references and Turner's remorse and lack of
previous criminal

record were mitigating
factors.
In an impact statement read out in court, the
victim, now 23, addressed her attacker, saying
his actions had left her emotionally scarred.
She criticised Turner for not admitting the
crime and putting her and her family through
an "invasive" and "aggressive" trial.
Later, the victim told BuzzFeed she was
disappointed with the "gentle" sentence.
But "even if the sentence is light, hopefully
this will wake people up," she said.
"I want the judge to know that he ignited a
tiny fire. If anything, this is a reason for all of
us to speak even louder."
District Attorney Jeff Rosen said "the
punishment does not fit the crime".
"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."