Lawmakers add to calls for action against judge

SAN FRANCISCO — Lawmakers joined women’s rights advocates on Friday in urging a Californian agency to take action against the judge who sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

Eleven Democratic state lawmakers asked the Commission on Judicial Performance to investigate and discipline Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky, alleging he may have engaged in misconduct in sentencing Brock Turner, 20, to jail time and three years’ probation.

The punishment for the Dayton, Ohio, native ignited intense outcry as too lenient. Persky said in court last week that he followed a recommendation from the county’s probation department and cited Turner’s clean criminal record and the effect the conviction will have on his life.

Prosecutors had argued Turner be sentenced to six years in prison for crimes that could have sent him away for 10 years. But the county’s district attorney has said Persky should not lose his job because of the ruling.

California State Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman said the judge’s decision “confirms what women already knew: That rape culture blames us for being vulnerable when crimes are committed against us, but treats the same factors — drinking, in particular — as reasons to be exceedingly lenient with rapists.”

Online records show Turner is expected to be released from jail after three months. County jail inmates serve 50 per cent of their sentences if they keep a clean disciplinary record.

Stephanie Pham, a Stanford student who co-founded the Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention, said the sentence stirred anger and frustration on campus. “When the sentencing came out, people lost faith in the legal system,” she said.