A Brock Turner Juror Is Speaking Out

Millions of people have taken to social media over the last several weeks to express their outrage regarding Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer who was convicted of three felony sexual assault charges, but only sentenced to six months in county jail. Now joining the angry dissenters is one of the jurors on the Brock Turner case, who published an anonymous letter on Monday scorning Judge Aaron Persky's sentencing. The letter is the latest in a series of high profile condemnations on the proceedings of the case, and a further example of the changing attitude towards rape culture in the United States.

The anonymous juror, who identified himself only as a male individual who recently gained U.S. citizenship after 30 years of residency, offered a powerful insight into the difference between the alleged jury proceedings of the case and Persky's final judgement. "The predominantly male jury reached consensus of guilt on all three counts within two days of deliberation. In light of that quick and decisive finding, I was absolutely shocked and appalled when I heard on June 2 about the minimal sentence you announced that Mr. Turner would serve for this crime," wrote the juror.

Here's the full letter, published by Palo Alto Online.

To Judge Aaron Persky:

I was a juror in the Brock Turner trial. I have to be honest and say that I was not happy that I was selected for the jury given my work responsibilities, but once I was in the box, I took my civic responsibility very seriously.

Personally I have absolutely no doubt that Mr. Turner is guilty as charged and as convicted on all three counts. The predominantly male jury reached consensus of guilt on all three counts within two days of deliberation. In light of that quick and decisive finding, I was absolutely shocked and appalled when I heard on June 2 about the minimal sentence you announced that Mr. Turner would serve for this crime. 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. Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person.

I recently became an American citizen after being in the country for over 30 years. This was my first experience as a juror and frankly I am disappointed.

Although I wasn't in the court for the sentencing, you were reported as having said:

"A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him ... I think he will not be a danger to others."

Isn't that the point ... a sentence should have a severe impact on Mr. Turner just as the event for which he has never expressed sorrow or regret has had on Ms. Doe. Also, given Mr. Turner's complete lack of credibility, I certainly would not assume that he will not be of danger to others. Witnesses describe his predatory behavior both the evening of the assault and on at least one other previous occasion, which is evidence of a pattern of dangerous behavior.

It was also reported that you acknowledged the difficulty of trying to balance the jury's guilty verdict with your belief in the events as Mr. Turner described them. A jury of 12 people found Mr. Turner guilty of three charges, but you, despite the information that came to light during the trial and the subsequent sentencing memos filed by both sides, chose to disregard the jury's findings and other evidence and believe the defendant's self-serving version of events. And you disregarded the findings that he had lied about prior alcohol and drug use in high school. You chose to find the defendant credible on the basis of irrelevant character witness testimony; I find that impossible to understand.

During the sentencing, you said, "The trial is a search for the truth. It's an imperfect process. But after the trial all sides should accept the jury's findings." 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.

You had to justify that there were "unusual circumstances" to give Mr. Turner less than the two year minimum sentence for his crime. But the unfortunate fact is, these circumstances are not unusual. Women like Ms. Doe suffer daily from similar crimes and I fear your sentence will make these victims less willing to report their attacks.

This punishment does not fit the crime. Mr. Turner, convicted of 3 felony counts of sexual assault, will serve 3 months in county jail since he is scheduled to be released on September 2. And Mr. Turner is going to appeal the verdict, which not only is a complete waste of tax payers' money but could mean, if he gets off, that he will not even have to register as a sex offender. How unjust would that outcome be, the slate wiped clean for a 3-count convicted sex offender?!

Justice has not been served in this case. The jury's verdict of guilt on all three felony counts of sexual assault was completely disregarded in an effort to spare the perpetrator a 'hardship'. What message does this send to Emily Doe, and indeed all victims of sexual assault and rape, especially those on college campuses? Your concern was for the impact on the assailant. I vehemently disagree, our concern should be for the victim.

Shame on you.

A Concerned Juror

A Change.org petition to remove Persky from his post has received over 1.2 million signatures, and Persky is now in the midst of an official recall campaign being lead by Michele Landis Dauber, a Stanford law professor who says that Persky's bad judgement in this case means he needs to be taken off the bench.

"Judge Persky is a criminal judge, one of the very few criminal judges, who has jurisdiction over Stanford," Dauber told NPR earlier this month. "So that means that we would be waiting six more years in order to remove him according to the regular election process, and any sexual assaults that happen on the Stanford campus during that time would be highly unlikely to receive a prison sentence based on this precedent."

The outcry from this involved in the case is a hugely important sign of a cultural shift towards protecting victims over perpetrators. Although Turner's sentence may ultimately stand or even be vacated after a potential appeals process, the social and political backlash from the case means that this case won't have been meaningless. Hopefully, the resurgence of attention towards the miscarriage of justice for sexual assault victims should ensure a more just outcome for similar cases in the future.