’Lenient’ judge ousted

CALIFORNIANS have voted in a special election to unseat a state judge who drew worldwide condemnation for giving a six-month jail sentence to a Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, pictured, a former prosecutor appointed to the bench in 2003 by then-governor Gray Davis, next month will become the first sitting judge recalled in more than 80 years in the state.

In Tuesday’s election, 60 per cent of the more than 176,058 voters who cast ballots approved a petition to recall Mr Persky, according to unofficial results posted online by the county registrar. The registrar is expected to certify the results on July 5, spokesman Steven Spivak said.

“There is no such thing as an elected official who (is) independent of the electorate. That is not a thing,” Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor who organised the recall petition, wrote in a Twitter message on Wednesday.

Mr Persky came under fire in June 2016 for sentencing Brock Turner, then 20, to six months in the county jail and three years probation for three counts of sexual assault, a penalty widely denounced as too lenient.