Turner, who is from Dayton, Ohio, was arrested on the Palo Alto campus on 18 January 2015 after two Stanford graduate students spotted him lying on top of the victim outside of a Kappa Alpha party behind a dumpster. When officers arrived, the woman, who is not a Stanford student, was “completely unresponsive” and partially clothed, with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, according to police.
The two witnesses who were biking past that evening
said they saw Turner “thrusting” on top of the motionless woman and that they intervened and held him until police showed up.
Turner, who had a blood-alcohol level that was twice the legal limit,
testified in court that he could walk and talk at the time and acknowledged that the victim was “very drunk”. He claimed that he did not intend to rape the woman and that the encounter was consensual.
The victim, who gave
emotional testimony during the trial, regained consciousness at a hospital more than three hours after the assault and told police she had no memory of the attack.
After a jury convicted Turner of sexually penetrating an intoxicated and unconscious person with a foreign object, prosecutors asked a judge to sentence him to
six years in California prison. Probation officials had recommended the significantly lighter penalty of six months in county jail, according to the
San Jose Mercury News.
The judge, Aaron Perksy, cited Turner’s age and lack of criminal history as factors in his decision, saying, “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him … I think he will not be a danger to others.”
After the hearing, Santa Clara County district attorney Jeff Rosen slammed the sentencing, which will likely result in Turner spending three months behind bars – a fraction of the maximum 14 years he was potentially facing.
“The punishment does not fit the crime.”
