The victim of an alleged sexual assault involving former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner testified in court this week, recounting what she remembers from the January 2015 incident.
Turner was arrested just over a year ago when he was found on the Stanford campus late at night with an unconscious woman. Two cyclists said they discovered Turner on top of a woman and that Turner fled when confronted. The cyclists chased down Turner and held him there until police arrived.
Turner admitted to sexual contact but denied all allegations of rape at the time. Turner is no longer a part of the Stanford swim team.
The hearings in the case began last October and ultimately saw Turner charged with sexual penetration of an intoxicated woman, sexual penetration of an unconscious woman and assault with intent to commit rape.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the alleged victim testified this week in the case, along with a friend who attended a party with her that night and one of the cyclists who discovered Turner.
The alleged victim, a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, said she attended a fraternity party at Stanford with her younger sister and some friends. The 23-year-old said she remembered dancing and “being silly” at the party, but didn’t remember anything after the group drank beers with several men outside of the house.
One of the friends in the group also testified. She said Turner had tried to kiss the alleged victim’s sister at the party, but the sister “thought it was weird” and moved her head away. The friend said she and the sister left to bring another friend home 12:20 a.m., leaving the alleged victim at the party. When they returned, they couldn’t find her.
More testimony came from one of the bikers, who said he and a friend saw Turner on the ground, “thrusting” against a body that wasn’t moving. When they confronted Turner, the biker says the woman on the ground was unconscious and Turner “backed away and then tried to flee.”
You can read a more detailed account of the testimony on the Mercury News website here. The trial will continue next week, with the local newspaper reporting that a cross-examination of the victim will likely occur.
I’m completely appalled by the majority of these posts, many of you seem to believe the victim is to blame or it was a drunken misunderstanding. How sad! It seems to me of the two the rapist and the victim, the rapist Brock Turner was coherent that night! The victim admitted she had no memory of what happened that night, while Turner sat in court and narrated the whole turn of events that night that led up to his decision to rape this victim! Disgusting! I can only hope the karma does not come knocking at any of his supporters doors so you know first hand what his victim and her family has endured because of immoral people like you… Read more »
First, full disclosure. I am not a swimmer. I found this site when I clicked on a Google link about this trial. I was curious to see what some of Mr Turner fellow swimmers had to say as it related to this case. While I have found most of the comments reasonable and not at all surprising I have also found some of the most outrageous opinions that I could have imagined.
Take the comments by the posted named Sue for example. She posted her note about 2 1/2 months ago, roughly the middle of March. This is significant because at that point much of the evidence had been available for public consumption for some time. And STILL she… Read more »
I would ask this. If he was innocent, and knew he was doing no wrong, why did he runaway when confronted? Why wouldn’t he tell the bikers to just mind their own business? Also… Pay attention to what the victim says (and be clear, the justice system has determined that the woman is the victim here), and what the actual witnesses said. The witnesses were so upset by what they saw, it has also left a vital impact upon them. Listen to what the dad says. He calls it ” 20 minutes of action”. This woman will be dealing with this for the rest of her life, her sentence is a life sentence.
Wouldn’t you run away if two people started running toward you while you were naked in public?
The cyclists could tell in the dark that she was not moving behind the dumpster while he was humping her with her dress up in the air and panties tossed aside and with pine needles all in her hair! Why could he not? He is sick and his supporters are delusional and demented. I pray for you young people….just a sad state that our country is in who believes his nonsense. If it had not been her it would have been one of the drunken party goers. And, if the cyclists had not caught him….can you imagine what he might have done…would he have killed her….why else take her out behind a dumpster…….
They could tell because, they sneaked up to watch and maybe join him. Even though drunk, he said no, like was proper. They must have been watching for some time….pervs.
The rapist is going to jail. Good. A mistake that results in rape is still rape.
Are the people commenting here serious?
Finally we have some people make some sense commenting this, absolutely Brock has paid a full price for a drunken mistake to himself and his family, his teammates and friends who care for him. He does not deserve any of this!
If there is a charge, it should be underage drinking. The 23 year old and her mother should bear more responsibility simply because they are older, should know better.
The DA should drop the case, has some conscious for being human. No one wins, but lawyers.
I hope Brock holds his head high, and get through this. I am sure a lot of people caring for him.
I couldn’t disagree more. He deserves a much greater punishment for what he did. I’m the same age as Brock. I go to a big university and I am a student athlete just like him. I’ve been to plenty of parties with passed out or basically incoherent women and never once did I think about taking advantage of them. Respect was the first thing my parents taught me about girls. When he walked up to that girl he had three options, do nothing, help her or take advantage of her. The consequences of each ran through his head and he decided it was worth the risk.
I’m a little confused as to how people keep placing the blame on the victim. I know none of you, had that happened to you would be saying “oh it was a drunken misunderstanding” had you been unconscious and someone took advantage of you. This is actually ridiculous. Drinking isn’t rape, let’s just clarify that. Getting drunk does NOT give anybody the right to touch, or take advantage of anyone especially if they aren’t even capable to have a say because they are unconscious. Are you freaking people kidding me. What the hell does her age have to do with anything. Whether your 24 or 20 your still an irresponsible 20 something year old who is still naive to things… Read more »
Wake up!!! You people are incredibly delusional. Rape is rape. End of story. And if this was a young black man I’m sure you’d be skinning him alive. Just wake up.
If he was a young Black man the Judge might say it isn’t his fault he had a bad life. He would get off and re-enforce the idea among the American Black community that crime is OK if you are Black.
It is still unbelievable that a drunken 23 year-old college graduate can take advantage of a college freshman, and the freshman is charged because the woman passed out before the freshman.
Unbelievable!
If the roles were reversed and Brock were a 23 year-old college graduate preying on college freshman he would be called a pervert even if he passed out while making out. We would protect the college freshman, but since the 23 year-old is a woman she gets protection and the freshman/Brock gets prosecuted.
California law states that a drunk person cannot consent to kissing, touching, sex, etc., and since both Brock and the woman were both drunk then neither could consent to kissing, hugging, touching, etc. If the… Read more »
As a friend of Brock’s who thinks about this every day, I don’t see how any university, fraternity, or law official could pay for the damage done to Brock. Seeing first-hand the person he was to the person he is now depresses me, I cannot imagine what he must be feeling.
I don’t believe anyone is really at blame. I can easily see how he would be frightened and run if someone said “what are you doing? she’s f—-ng unconscious!”
Overall I really think that, based on the facts that are available to the public, this is a huge public misunderstanding with some poor judgement. Just so happened to take away this outstanding human being’s future athletically and academically.
Please, if you have the heart, take a moment to read the victim’s statement after the sentencing:
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/da/newsroom/newsreleases/Documents/B-Turner%20VIS.pdf
Your friend was caught red handed sexually assaulting a woman. If he hadn’t been caught, and stopped, I can’t even imagine how much worse this would have been for the survivor. He’s not a different person because HE was unfortunately traumatized, he’s different because the world sees the REAL Brock now, and it’s not a pretty picture.
How do you know? Were you a witness, were there signs of a struggle. Really there’s no logic here; all we know is two drunk people were caught having sex in public. One “passed out” or “blacked out” at some point. Its stupid to put all the blame on one person– both are adults the woman the senior of the two.
What exactly does her age and seniority to him have to do with ANY part of this?
Do you know more than the judge, than the jury, than the people who sat through the trial and heard all the evidence? No, you don’t. The sentence has been handed down. He sexually assaulted an intoxicated, unconscious woman and intended to rape her.
Oh, how absolutely terrible for him. What a shame that he can no longer eat ribeye steaks or have fun with his friends because he was CAUGHT SEXUALLY ASSAULTING AN UNCONSCIOUS WOMAN.
You’re depressed by what HE brought upon himself, with HIS OWN actions? Try thinking about what he’s done to HER. Not only taking advantage of and sexually assaulting her unresponsive body but dragging her name through the mud for a full year, trying to make it seem like it was her fault for “drinking and promiscuity”, rather than taking responsibility for the fact that he was a stupid asshat who made a stupid decision and ruined someone else’s life.
I can’t wait for the day the Judge who… Read more »
So ignorant and sad. Poor, poor Brock. The kid deserves a much harsher sentence. Alcohol didn’t rape this young woman, Brock did.
From the evidence that has been reported on it really seems inconclusive. I’m neither condoning his behavior nor chastising him or her. How do we know he was not impaired enough to not know she passed out? Same for the woman’s story: how do we know for certain that she didn’t consent before she passed out or blacked out? Without signs of a struggle how can we seriously take one drunk person’s story over another as the indisputable facts?
Outside of all of that the testimony of others present just proved two things: 1. Both were drunk. 2. Both were having sex in public. Everything past that is really just speculation and this kid just got railroaded by the justice… Read more »
I agree, I don’t understand how everyone can be so sure that it was rape. There don’t seem to be anywitnesses aside from the graduate students who caught him, and the alleged victim was too drunk to remember something. She very well could have consented. I’m not blaming her, I’m just saying that waking up in a hospital with no memory of what happened is a scary thing so of course she’s going to automatically think she was raped, but what is she did consent but doesn’t remember? What if it’s all a misunderstanding and now Brock has lost everything. He lost his future, his career, his reputation, and he has protesters with guns outside his house. He will never… Read more »