I’ve been debating writing an article about this topic because I don’t want to bring any more attention to Brock Turner, but I want to do this so when Turner’s future girlfriends, wife, children, grandchildren search his name, they will see all of these articles. If anyone has been living under a rock or been in a coma this past year, here’s a recap of how this horrid case of “justice” took place.
Let's start at the beginning;
September 2014-Brock Turner from Ohio starts to attend Stanford University on a swimming scholarship. From this date, several incidents happened where police chased him for drinking alcohol on campus and he allegedly asking if he could get some weed. Harmless right? (Eye roll)
January 17, 2015- the victim wanted to spend one more night with her little sister, so she went with her little sister and her friends to a fraternity party. The same fraternity party that Brock Turner attended.
Turner and the victim left the party, but the victim passed out near a dumpster where Turner started to rape her. The only reason he stopped was when two graduate students forced him to the ground when he ran. Let's note that while one of the witnesses was giving his statement, he began to get very upset, tearing, and taking deep breathes to get through what he witnessed.
January 18, 2015- Turner posted his $150,000 bond.
2016 TRIAL BEGINS
March 30th 2016- Turner was found guilty of two counts of penetration and one count of assault with intent to rape.
In May, Turner stated that since he was drunk he was unaware that the victim was unconscious. He blamed the fact that he was an “inexperienced drinker” and “party goer” is what led to these events. Since he was inexperienced in the "party world" or "college life" he turned to his teammates and observed how they took women home while they were intoxicated. Intoxicated does not only mean unconscious, having a certain amount of alcohol to where you feel a "buzz" is concerned being intoxicated.
May 31, 2016- Turner’s attorney recommended to the judge to sentence turner to only four months in jail since Brock had a record of accomplishments and who made bad choices revolving alcohol and 20 minutes (referring to the rape) during the night in question.
June 2, 2016- Judge Aaron Persky Sentenced Turner to six months in jail and he had to register as a sex offender for life. Turner was taken into custody but was placed in protective custody because of his notoriety.
Throughout the trial many documents had been released one of which was a letter Turner’s father wrote to the judge stating all of his concerns and reasons why his son should not go to jail. He describes how his son will never be the easy go lucky smiling kid he was before that night. He has anxiety, fear, and depression, can’t eat the food he usually loves such as rib eye steak. He pleaded that incarceration would not be the best fit for his son since he has so much to offer society.
Not once throughout the entire trial did the Turner family show any remorse towards the victim for what had happened. She bravely took the stand to speak to Brock Turner on the record. In her statement she explains why she went to the party even though she was much older than everyone there, gives thanks to the two graduate students who saved her, and confronted Brock Turner using his and his attorneys own words against them. She stated how this is one evening has affected her life and will continue to affect her life.
September 2, 2016- Brock Turner was released from jail only serving three months out of his six-month sentence for good behavior.
Here is what has been happening within those three months you, Brock Turner, were in jail.
The recent graduating class of Stanford took it upon themselves to show exactly how much this means to them, here are just a couple photos.
Legislation was passed to expand the definition of rape and to lengthen the punishment of sex offenders. Judge Persky is under investigation for having a bias view throughout the many cases he worked on. The 2016 Olympics happened where women in all sports completely dominated and showed true strength and power. Michael Phelps also swam his last time in Rio; guess you guys have something in common (no more swimming career). The military has finally opened its ranking to transgender. The Zika virus seems to be localized in downtown Miami. A mass shooting happened at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that devastated the entire nation. All of your former classmates have gone back to school and is enjoying themselves. For the last thing you need to know while you’ve been away is, you are still hated by most of the population and will continue to cause blood to boil.
To the victim, this article is more about the injustice that you received from the justice system and less about how a Stanford swimmer raped an unconscious woman. His actions need to be held accountable in every way possible, but hoping that when the rest of the country hears the name Brock Turner it will be linked to rapist. I hope that this case does not fade into limbo, but enrage us to make a change, to speak out, and to make sure that the next generation of women and men wont have to go through similar situations.
