“His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life," wrote the father of Brock Turner, the ex-Stanford swimmer found guilty of raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster at a party.
Turner's father, in this particular letter pleading with Judge Aaron Persky for leniency in the case of his son's sentencing, continued on to say that his son has "never been violent to anyone including his actions (on the night of the rape)."
Do you feel gross yet? Are you seething with anger yet?
Hang on for a second. You will be soon.
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"I was found unconscious, with my hair disheveled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled off over my shoulders and pulled up above my waist, that I was butt naked all the way down to my boots, legs spread apart, and had been penetrated by a foreign object by someone I did not recognize," Turner's victim wrote in an incredibly powerful statement she read at the sentencing hearing.
"I learned that my a— and vagina were completely exposed outside, my breasts had been groped, fingers had been jabbed inside me along with pine needles and debris, my bare skin and head had been rubbing against the ground behind a dumpster, while an erect freshman was humping my half naked, unconscious body."
This is but a few sentences of the victim's lengthy, heart-wrenching victim impact statement.
A jury heard the testimony in Turner's case and found him guilty on three felony counts of sexual assault. Later, at sentencing, Persky listened to the victim's statement, considered the four woman, eight man jury's recommendation — the maximum sentence was 14 years in prison — and decided that Turner should only serve six months in prison. Less, if he behaves well. Three years probation.
“A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him … I think he will not be a danger to others,” Persky said in his decision .
What about her? Why is no one in this courtroom appearing to consider that? No one was asking, so she offered this.
"My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today," she wrote.
All of that, Persky determined, was only worth a couple dozen weeks toiling behind bars for Turner. Maybe even less.
Others have gotten more severe punishments for petty theft, a victimless crime. But this judge, he looked them both in the eye and decided that one person's mental health, their life, was more important than another's. And the one who never consented to any of this destruction in her life was terrorized again.
That perversion of justice is somehow even more disgusting than the vile actions Turner committed. It's disgusting. Say it again. Let it sink in.
"The punishment does not fit the crime," said District Attorney Jeff Rosen after the sentence was announced Thursday. "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."
Rape is rape.
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That the discussion flipped to how a punishment will affect him, the aggressor, reeks of the privilege inherent in being a successful athlete. The ability to excel in a sport is a caveat in sexual assault allegations. "Yes, he's accused of rape but here are his athletic accomplishments."
The way that we report such incidents encourages this thinking, as the victim points out in her statement.
"And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times. She was found breathing, unresponsive with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach curled in fetal position," she wrote.
"By the way, he’s really good at swimming. Throw in my mile time if that’s what we’re doing. I’m good at cooking, put that in there, I think the end is where you list your extracurriculars to cancel out all the sickening things that’ve happened."
By the way, do you feel sick yet?
You should, because Judge Persky's lenient sentencing stymied any forward progress made in the crusade to take sexual assault seriously.
Rape is rape, and it's time that those in power mete out punishments appropriately — and without a footnote about one's athletic prowess.