We were all upset when Stanford student Brock Turner was given a horrifyingly lenient jail sentence of only six months after raping Emily Doe. But imagine the reaction of the jury that convicted Turner on three felony counts of sexual assault, only to see their ruling essentially ignored. Judge Aaron Persky gave Turner an undeservingly mild sentence, which has provoked outrage in pretty much everyone. One anonymous juror from the trial chose to speak out about the sentencing in a letter to Judge Persky himself, according to the Huffington Post.
The juror wrote to the judge that he has lived in America for nearly 30 years, only recently becoming an American citizen, and was “frankly disappointed” by his first experience with the American justice system.
“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,” writes the unnamed juror. “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.”
“We were unanimous in our finding of the defendant’s guilt,” he reminded the judge, “and our verdicts were marginalized based on your own personal opinion.”
This is the first person on the jury to speak about what happened during the trial, but there is an ongoing movement to remove Persky from his position, and he has already been removed from one sexual assault case.
The juror concluded the letter by giving a hardy “Shame on you” to Persky. Shame indeed. We can only hope that this letter really makes Perky think about his decision.
The full letter can be read here.