A juror in the Brock Turner sexual-assault trial said he is "absolutely shocked and appalled" at Judge Aaron Persky's sentencing following the conviction of the former Stanford University student.
In a letter delivered to Persky on Saturday and
posted online by Palo Alto Weekly, the unnamed male juror called the sentence "ridiculously lenient" and "impossible to understand."
The former Stanford University swimmer and Olympic hopeful was convicted on March 30 of three counts of felony sexual assault for the January 2015 attack on an unconscious woman behind a dumpster outside a fraternity party. Two graduate students on bicycles stopped the attack and held Turner until police arrived. On June 2, he was sentenced to six months in county jail and three years' probation, but will only serve three months jail time.
"I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults but with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape," the juror wrote.
The unnamed juror, the only one to speak publicly about the case, told the Palo Alto Weekly that he considered Persky's sentencing "an affront to the jury."
He said he recently became a U.S. citizen after living in the country for 30 years and was disappointed with his first experience as a juror.
"Your concern was for the impact on the assailant," he wrote to the judge. "I vehemently disagree, our concern should be for the victim.
"Shame on you."
During sentencing, Persky said that a prison sentence would have a "severe impact" on Turner and that he didn't think Turner would be a danger to others.
The juror's letter is the latest criticism against the judge.
A Change.org petition calling for his removal from the bench had received 1.2 million signatures by midday Tuesday.
Outrage was fueled by a letter from Turner's father, Dan Turner, who asked the judge for probation, calling jail time “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life,”
USA Today noted.