Search icon

News

19th Dec 2016

Stanford rape case Judge Aaron Persky cleared of wrongdoing

Megan Roantree

An investigation was launched over the lenient sentence he gave to Brock Turner.

Brock Turner was sentenced to 6 months in prison after sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at Stanford University. He served only three of those six months and was released in September.

The lenient sentencing was heavily criticised by members of the public all over the world, especially considering the judge could have handed out a 14-year sentence.

Following this an investigation was launched over Judge Aaron Persky’s handling of this trial.

But according to the California Commission on Judicial Performance there was ”no evidence that Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky displayed bias in his treatment of Brock Turner,” AP reports.

“the commission has concluded that there is not clear and convincing evidence of bias, abuse of authority, or other basis to conclude that Judge Persky engaged in judicial misconduct warranting discipline,” the report said.

Michele Dauber who is the chairperson of the Recall Persky campaign expressed her dissatisfaction with the result.

“We strongly disagree with the commission’s conclusion on judicial bias and we believe that Judge Persky has in fact demonstrated a clear pattern of bias in cases of sex crimes and violence against women,” she said.