Brock Turner Enters Plea of “Not Guilty” at Initial Proceedings

Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner has entered a plea of not guilty on 5 felony rape charges on Monday at his arraignment in the Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Turner has been released from jail on $150,000 bail.

Turner was arrested on January 18th after being found on the Stanford campus by two fellow students with an intoxicated woman. The two cyclists chased Turner and held him until police arrive, and according to official police reports, the woman was unconscious when they arrived.

Turner admitted sexual contact with the woman in his statement to police, but denied rape allegations. Neither Turner or his attorney have made any public comment on the matter yet.

Turner is a former high school All-American swimmer from Ohio who was a member of the Stanford swim team until withdrawing from school after his arrest.

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anotherswimmom
9 years ago

I too am a swim mom with 3 daughters between the ages of 19 and 23 including one who swam all four years as a scholarship D1 swimmer. Swimmom I am glad you are pleased with Stanford but I have a few questions: where were Brock’s teammates? why was he drinking in season? where was his roommate? where were the upperclassmen on the team? what kind of “village” do the coaches set up and provide for freshman on the team to know “this is not Kansas Dorothy”…..??? Maybe Brock is just an inherently evil, bad-man, rapist, but his first 18 years didn’t suggest so? And another concern I have which many will twist and turn that I think women are… Read more »

Queeny
9 years ago

Keep in mind this this comment is coming from a woman….When I was in college I knew of some women who would “awake” from a night of binge drinking knowing full well what they had done…been sluts…..behaved badly, etc…and they didn’t want to take responsibility for their actions….easier to cry rape…or…say they don’t remember. Why does the victim get so much credibility when she obviously has poor judgement as demonstrated by her pounding the liquor? Maybe she has to lie because she promised “Daddy” she wouldn’t go to a frat party.

There are always two sides to a story. I personally think the more likely scenario is that they started out with consent and she passed out. Unfortunately,this case has… Read more »

dmswim
Reply to  Queeny
9 years ago

While I think we all need to withhold final judgment until the judicial process has finished, your characterization of the victim is alarming. First, from my understanding of the facts, she didn’t initially report the rape. The bystanders who witnessed the incident did. She was unconscious until many hours later. Second, this woman had graduated from Stanford so I don’t think it’s a “Daddy didn’t want me going to a frat party” situation. She wasn’t underaged. Third, the alleged perpetrator had just as much “poor judgment” “pounding the liquor” but you aren’t blaming him at all for his poor choices getting himself into a situation where he might be accused of rape due to his intoxication. Fourth, the victim is… Read more »

Tact
Reply to  Queeny
9 years ago

Yes there are two sides to every story, and I agree that the media has a history of sensationalizing rape cases. BUT if a girl drinks too much, yes that is irresponsible, but is not an excuse to have sex with her, and even if she does give consent, that doesn’t make it okay to continue if she passes out…also she was found unconscious by the police. I’m not saying that turner is guilty, I’m just saying that you’re giving him too much credit and when you wrote your offensive post, you obviously didn’t consider the facts. Everyone has drank too much, but not everyone tries to hook up with an unconscious girl.

David Berkoff
Reply to  Queeny
9 years ago

You are one twisted woman. Women who have a one night stand are SLUTS or are simply crying rape because they regret what they did? People (men and women) with this kind of mindset ARE THE PROBLEM. And your being a woman makes your comments even more insensitive and gross.

PAC12BACKER
Reply to  David Berkoff
9 years ago

What is your deal? Get off your high horse, quit accusing others of being the problem, and go look in the mirror. This kind of thread is better served by Muchnick on Concussions, Inc

David Berkoff
Reply to  PAC12BACKER
9 years ago

High horse for pointing out that people saying that drunk women who get raped are just sluts or have a bad case of regret? If that’s the case, I’ll ride on. Now, if you are really were so self-assured by what you write on this thread–and can thrown the “look in the mirror” comment to boot–put your name behind your words. I do. You don’t. That says it all.

G3
9 years ago

When did M. Scaffer leave the team?

G3
Reply to  Braden Keith
9 years ago

Yeah, it seemed weird that they were close together. Looking at it now though, it may have been innapproiate for me to speculate that they are related.

Just thinking
Reply to  G3
9 years ago

Hmm. Very good point: especially if you read the comments on the article on her, someone who claims to be close to the situation says it was a “case of not enjoying the sport” and someone else comments and says “you clearly don’t know her and have no idea what is actually going on.”

All speculation, needless to say.

Mike
Reply to  Just thinking
9 years ago

Where did the other person say that this “friend” did not know what was going on.

Just thinking
Reply to  Mike
9 years ago

http://swimswam.com/14-time-american-maddy-schaefer-no-longer-swimming-stanford/

Fourth comment from the bottom: “Unfriend.” In response to “A friend.”
Also notice Morrow3.

Swimmom
9 years ago

I am so proud of Stanford and how they have handled this situation. I have a daughter who has chosen Stanford and I could not be more proud. Particularly when I look at the way other schools often turn the other cheek when athletes ‘allegedly misbehave’.

Queeny
Reply to  Swimmom
9 years ago

Proud that Stanford jumped to conclusions? trumped up the charges? leaked a sensationalized version of events to the media? ruined a young man’s life?

We have a judicial system for a reason. Why do you think you got 29 dislikes of your comment?

David Berkoff
Reply to  Queeny
9 years ago

STANFORD ruined his life? STANFORD leaked sensationalized versions of the incident? I think you need to re-read the stories. The reported facts came from the Palo Alto Police report. TURNER voluntarily withdrew. TURNER was the young man making bad decisions that are now affecting his life.

Kelly
Reply to  Queeny
9 years ago

I agree with Queeny…I feel that Stanford, (to protect themselves) as well as the media, have already found him guilty without having the full facts. They both had a lot to drink, and it’s possible she passed out while they were fooling around and blacked out afterwards. She was drinking hard alcohol and apparently had many shots. It’s sad for all involved but I feel that Brock has been given a bad rap already without having the facts fully presented.

other swimmom
Reply to  Swimmom
9 years ago

Don’t you think Stanford put the cart in front of the horse here? Shouldn’t he be found guilty first? If he is convicted, absolutely, vilify him all you want. We have a legal system for a reason and I am horrified that a university would basically come out and pronounce his guilt before he was even formally charged? Inexcusable. I’m sure every fact of this case has been presented by the media. Because we all know they would NEVER show any bias towards anyone…

otherswimmom
Reply to  Swimmom
9 years ago

Don’t you think Stanford put the cart in front of the horse here? If he is found guilty, by all means ban him from your campus. He withdrew voluntarily, that should be enough until the LEGAL SYSTEM sorts it out. Stanford saying they are banning him from campus shows that they have decided to play judge jury and executioner here. I have a child who wants to go to Stanford. If they think they are above the law and can decide someone’s guilt or innocence before they have even been formally charged, I will definitely be reconsidering that choice.

Victim Advocate
9 years ago

The common thread of all of these tend to be that he’s innocent until found guilty in a court of law. However, to the individual victimized it sounds like people making up excuses for intolerant behavior. That is also wrong. Reading to the woman’s statements, she is clear that she at no time gave anyone permission to have sexual contact with her. Brock admits he fondled her, yet did not rape her (which to me means penetration from fingers, etc.).
If these are public statements, why is there a question about whether he acted inappropriately and criminally?
Why are there all these comments on the other threads about the level of alcohol, the fact they were at a… Read more »

candor advocate
Reply to  Victim Advocate
9 years ago

“All you have to do is a little research and see their public statements.” This is this kind of attitude that fuels the slanted hype that the media loves to turn cases like this into. Whenever a big story involving sensitive matters like this comes out, the first thing people want to do is share their personal opinions and speculations about what happened and what kind of people those who involved are. Just as swim-swam stated in an earlier article, please try to remember speculating this case won’t do either party any good. These were life changing events involving other people that you were not present for. Let’s all try to be respectful of both Brock turner and the Victim

9 years ago

To clarify things for anybody who is not familiar with the criminal process, a defendant ALWAYS enters a plea of “not guilty” at the initial proceeding (called the arraignment). His attorney is going time to independently evaluate the available evidence and advise him about it (i.e. do his due diligence as the ethics rules require). Having a client plead guilty at the arraignment would basically be legal malpractice.

The analogy I use is imagine a celebrity is in the news for having a life-threatening illness. Now imagine that when this celebrity sees a doctor, without doing an examination the doctor simply says, “Sorry, I know I can’t do anything for you because the media reports say you only have… Read more »

duckduckgoose
Reply to  attorneybogen
9 years ago

Wasn’t able to ask you this on the other thread because the reply button was no longer available, but why would the prosecution ever offer/accept a plea to lesser charges, other than the alleged victim’s refusal to testify, if they thought they had solid evidence for a conviction?

Read the police report (there’s a link in the Stanford Daily comments section) and it didn’t sound good for Turner. The cyclists told police that he was allegedly “thrusting” on top of the alleged victim, which isn’t consistent with only digital penetration and no contact with Turner’s genitals. They also claim he ran and fled and he claims he got up because he wasn’t feeling well and walked away. Security footage… Read more »

Reply to  duckduckgoose
9 years ago

You are right that prosecutors could very well refuse to reduce the charges in a case. However, they typically want to give a defendant some incentive to plea. They could also keep the charges at the same level but agree formall or informally to some lesser sentence. I have never seen a sex case where the victim wants to testify at all costs. Even if a victim is willing to testify, that does not mean that taking the stand won’t be traumatic. I have defended quite a few sex cases, and potential psychological trauma to the victim is always a factor in these cases as far as I have seen.

Reply to  duckduckgoose
9 years ago

I forgot to mention that things like a lack of a prior record are also reasons why prosecutors will reduce charges or agree to lesser sentences.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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