Stanford sex assault: Brock Turner gets 6 months in jail

PALO ALTO -- Former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was sentenced Thursday to six months in county jail and three years' probation for the sexual assault of an unconscious intoxicated woman outside a frat party on campus.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky said he weighed Turner's character, lack of criminal history and remorsefulness in determining to bypass the heavier penalty of six years in state prison requested by prosecutors.

With good behavior, Turner, 20, is expected to serve three months in county jail. He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and complete a sex offender management program.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci, left, and District Attorney Jeff Rosen speak to media in front of the courthouse in Palo Alto after the sentencing hearing for former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner, who was convicted of sexual assault, on Wednesday, June 2, 2016. (Jacqueline Lee/Palo Alto Daily News)

The once-Olympic hopeful was arrested in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 2015 after two Stanford graduate students who were bicycling by the Kappa Alpha fraternity saw him on the ground, thrusting his hips atop an unconscious, partially clothed woman. The students called police and chased down Turner.

Turner was convicted in March of three felony counts: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.

Holding hands, Turner's parents watched as the Ohio native was remanded to custody immediately after the sentencing at the county courthouse in Palo Alto.

The victim sat among her parents and friends and appeared stoic as the judge shared his reasoning for the shorter sentence.

Persky said he thought of the victim's "very eloquent statement" during the hearing in which she described how Turner's assault took away her feelings of self-worth, confidence, security and intimacy.

The victim described waking up hours after the assault on a gurney in a hospital, underwear missing, and not knowing how she got there.

After nurses removed foliage from her hair and took swabs for a sexual assault kit, she stood in the shower feeling like she didn't want her body anymore and could step out of it like a piece of clothing.

Days after, she shut herself off from friends and family. Weeks later, she found herself crying in stairwells at work, refrigerating spoons to reduce the puffiness of her eyes from crying at night and eventually quitting her job.

"My damage is internal ... I carry it with me," she said.

The victim talked about how one night of drinking ruined two lives and how to deal with the aftermath: "I accept the pain and you accept the punishment, and we both move on."

She said probation should not be an option because Turner failed to take accountability for his actions and only apologized for drinking and not for assaulting her.

Judge Persky acknowledged the difficulty of trying to balance the jury's conviction verdict, the information that came to light during the trial and the subsequent sentencing memos filed by both sides that included character witnesses for Turner.

"The trial is a search for the truth," Persky said. "It's an imperfect process." But after the trial, all sides should accept the jury's findings, he added.

Persky said although Turner apologized in court, the victim might never hear what she wants to hear -- that Turner knew she was drunk and assaulted her anyway.

"I don't think that bridge will ever be crossed," Persky said.

Persky said Turner's version of events, which is that he didn't commit a crime because the woman was conscious and consented, is different than the one the jury accepted.

But Persky said he is not convinced Turner's "lack of complete acquiescence to the verdict should count against him."

Persky said Turner exhibited genuine feelings of remorse Thursday and the judge also has to take into consideration the whole picture of how imprisonment affects a person's life.

Turner didn't have a criminal history and both he and the victim were intoxicated, Persky said.

Persky also noted how Turner plans to start a cause in which he'll teach and educate college students about the effects of excessive drinking and sexual promiscuity.

Persky said he read many character witness letters, including one from Turner's friend that said she would never have guessed he could commit such a crime.

Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci said the judge shouldn't discount Turner's crime because he had been drinking and because he comes from a good family and has a bright future.

"He was a good man," Kianerci said, "but good men commit very serious crimes all the time."

Given a chance to respond to Persky's proposed sentencing, Kianerci said Turner should, at the very least, get a full year in county jail.

"The sad reality is that sexual assault are committed by people you'd never expect, by people who look like Mr. Turner," Kianerci added. "The fact that he looks a certain way should not give him any leniency."

Before the sentencing, Turner apologized for the agony and suffering he caused the victim, the victim's sister and their family and friends.

"For anybody's life to be impacted by my actions ... makes me want to live the rest of my life to change it," he said.

After Thursday's hearing, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Turner should have been sent to prison for sexual assault. "The punishment does not fit the crime," he said.

In sentencing memos, prosecutors called Turner a "continued threat to the community" and asked the judge to sentence him to six years in state prison.

Probation department officials recommended six months in county jail, and Turner requested a four-month county jail term.

The maximum sentence Turner could have gotten was 14 years in state prison.

Before the sentencing, Persky also heard from Turner's father, who said his son has a gentle, quiet nature and is a humble person.

The elder Turner's voice cracked as he told the judge that his son is depressed, eating only to exist.

"He will never again be his happy-go-lucky self."

After the hearing, Turner's attorneys notified the court they plan to appeal the conviction.

Reporter Tracey Kaplan contributed to this article. Email Jacqueline Lee at jlee1@bayareanewsgroup.com or call her at 650-391-1334; follow her at twitter.com/jleenews.