A jury has officially found former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner guilty of three felony sexual assault charges from January of 2015.
Turner, who was a freshman on the Stanford swimming roster during the 2014-2015 season, was arrested in January of 2015 after being found on top of an unconscious woman near a fraternity house on the Stanford campus.
After deliberating for two days, the jury found Turner guilty of all three charges: assault with the intent to commit rape, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person and sexual penetration of an unconscious person.
Testimony in the case took place last week. The victim was a 23-year-old woman who had graduated from a different school, but visited a fraternity party at Stanford with her sister and some friends. She testified that she had no memory of the events of the night after drinking at the party. Two bikers, who found Turner on top of her and confronted him, testified that Turner tried to run, and that the woman was unconscious.
Turner testified later in the week, claiming the woman danced with him and kissed him at the frat party, agreed to return to his dormitory with him, and then consented during the sexual contact. The 20-year-old denied any intent to rape the woman.
NBC Bay Area reports that Turner’s sentencing will take place on June 2. He could face up to 10 years in prison.
Few things if she was unconscious while he was fingering her I would think she would have remained in that spot as unconscious people tend not to move much. Another thing is where was her sister? She saw her dancing kissing and leaving with this guy and didn’t think to say hey you’re too drunk to leave with this equally drunk guy.
“20 minutes of action” – disgusting.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/06/stanford-swimmer-brock-allen-turner-sentenced.html
Very unfortunate situation. Very disturbing that a girl at least four years older than the boy comes onto a college campus already drunk with the intent to get even more drunk (3x the legal limit to drive but started with four shots of Vodka before she arrived driven by her mother of the year – are you kidding me?). She was not dragged from the party by the 18 year old boy so seems like she had certain willing, albeit impaired, intent towards the boy. They both are drunk so nobody has good judgement. They fall to the ground and while still conscious as far as we know start groping. Some bikers come upon them and simply note she is… Read more »
Absolutely. Stanford needs to be protecting its students from locals or townies coming onto their campuses like this if this is the result.
He still raped someone. End of story.
He did not rape anyone. IF touching someone is rape, then the woman raped Brock. Why isn’t she being charged with sexual assault?
California law states that a drunk person cannot consent to kissing, touching, sex, etc., and since both Brock and the woman were drunk then neither could consent to kissing, hugging, touching, etc. If the woman was kissing, touching, hugging, and groping Brock (who was also drunk) why isn’t she being charged with sexual assault? If we are going to charge Brock then the woman should be charged too, but I do not believe that either party should be charged nor do I believe that Brock should go to prison. This is not justice.
Furthermore, she… Read more »
Kissing, hugging, or touching someone who is doing the same to you is not sexual assault. Sticking your fingers into the vagina of an unconscious woman IS. It’s actually pretty simple.
but what if she was consenting up until the moment they were seen, when she fell unconscious? what if he didn’t stick his fingers into the vagina of an unconscious woman, but he put them into a conscious and consenting woman who fell unconscious. then it’s just an unlucky situation.
just imagine for a second if that is the case. no one seems to be considering this very possible alternative and it is horrifying to think about. possibly a more difficult to deal with truth than the one most people have come to believe
So if someone shoved pine needles up your vagina or rectum, you wouldn’t consider that rape?
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
I hope Brock files an appeal and hires the best criminal defense attorney in the US to appeal and reverse what I believe is a terrible and unjust verdict.
Gerry Spence is a great criminal defense attorney and a link to is law firm is below
http://www.spencelawyers.com/
I think only Gerry Spence can end the madness and reverse this terrible outcome.
It is very sad that two kids had a drunken encounter that they both regret and the male is going to prison because the female passed out first. According to the news both of their alcohol… Read more »
All excellent points.
Could you imagine a 22 year old male who didn’t even go to the college taking a bunch of shots of alcohol and then getting dropped off by a parent.
That would absolutely be considered a pervert!
And you base all of this on news reports because they always get it right, don’t they? 12 peers found him guilty after spending hours listening to the testimony and examining the evidence.
dude, the jury deliberated on this for 2 days before finally coming to a decision. this was not cut and dry.
think about people’s motivations here:
– prosecutor wants to stir up a media storm to further their career. i think it’s actually quite possible that the prosecutor wrote or at least helped with the victim’s letter. keep in mind that the victim twice asked for a settlement (ie cash in order to not go to court). surely if she was really as psychologically broken as the letter claims then money would serve her mental reparation less than ‘true justice’ (that is to say, seeing brock behind bars)? and surely if the turners are wealthy and if brock… Read more »
Wow. I came back to check the comments out of curiosity. Personally, I find consent to be very easy to understand. The woman was unconscious, so she could not give consent. It does not matter if she gave consent before she became unconscious. It honestly should not be difficult to tell if the person you are trying to have sex with is unconscious. That is setting a very low bar for how you expect your partner to respond if you cannot tell whether or not the person is conscious.
The problem is there is no evidence as to when she became unconscious. There is NO EVIDENCE in this case. The grad students came across one sliver of a moment and made assumptions as a result.
And judging from the outcome, they made the correct assumptions. I’m just thankful that those boys were around.
They didn’t have to prove that she could not give consent. They had to prove (emphasis on prove) that Turner KNEW she could not give consent.
From Palo Alto Online: “If Turner believed she was conscious of the act — whether or not she was — then he did not have the mental state of committing the crime and the jury must find him not guilty, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky told the jurors while delivering jury instructions in the Palo Alto courthouse on Monday afternoon.”
Doesn’t that then hinge on his ability to understand that fact (he was really drunk), as well as when she actually passed out? We don’t know what moment she passed out.… Read more »
Are you implying that nobody has ever been wrongly convicted? The jury can only go by what is brought up in the courtroom and how it is conveyed to them. The law is also absolutely ludicrous to state that anyone intoxicated is unable to consent. This would not hold up in the supreme court. If you are responsible for your actions in a DUI then you need to be responsible for your actions when consenting to sex.
Also this person was 23. Brock was a freshman in college. What is a 23 year old doing at a college party getting so drunk to not remember anything?
Hay look Mary and Racer 12 people said the sky is blue.