Just in case your blood wasn’t boiling already, Brock Turner submitted a letter to Judge Aaron Persky explaining his actions.
And by explain we mean throw his own pity party.
As we previously reported, Brock Turner has been found guilty of three felony charges, including the rape of a 23-year-old woman behind a dumpster on Stanford University’s campus. Apparently, the woman was accompanying her sister to a frat party not ten minutes from their house.
Whereas a standard rape case calls for 14 years imprisonment, Turner was given a more “lenient” sentence of six months. This will probably be reduced to three months for “good conduct.”
Not only have Turner’s father, mother, sister, grandparents, and classmates (even his female classmates) written letters to defend his “good name,” but now Turner’s personal “defense” letter to Judge Aaron Persky has been made public.
Leslie Rasmussen, Turner’s friend and classmate, had her letter cited by Judge Persky as a “strong character reference.”
Excuse me, I need to brush up on that particular term in a dictionary, because I’m not sure that means what he thinks it does.
Brock turner’s letter to the court sounds like he’s trying to get out of a MIP not a rape case, rape culture is real pic.twitter.com/Zt6ihkh0QW
— Ashley (@AshleyOhhhhh) June 8, 2016
In his own letter to the judge, Turner blatantly shirks responsibility. Instead, he blames the school’s lax regulations on “excessive drinking” and “party culture.”
“The night of January 17th changed my life and the lives of everyone involved forever. I can never go back to being the person I was before that day. I am no longer a swimmer, a student, a resident of California, or the product of the work that I put in to accomplish the goals that I set out in the first nineteen years of my life.”
No apology. No remorse. Just his loss of social status. According to Turner, the crime he committed caused him to “shake uncontrollably.” While this could be viewed as a physical sign of remorse for the events, he does not say so outright, leaving the words to fall flat. He also fails to reflect on how his actions affected his victim and her family.
“During the day, I shake uncontrollably from the amount I torment myself by thinking about what has happened. I wish I had the ability to go back in time and never pick up a drink that night, let alone interact with [redacted]. I can barely hold a conversation with someone without having my mind drift into thinking these thoughts. They torture me. I go to sleep every night having been crippled by these thoughts to the point of exhaustion.”
“I want to show that people’s lives can be destroyed by drinking and making poor decisions while doing so. One needs to recognize the influence that peer pressure and the attitude of having to fit in can have on someone. One decision has the potential to change your entire life. I know I can impact and change people’s attitudes towards the culture surrounded by binge drinking and sexual promiscuity that protrudes through what people think is at the core of being a college student.”
While Turner’s wording throughout the letter (wherein he references “alcohol” and “drinking” a total of eight times) is not considered “out of the ordinary,” his lack of complete reflection is troubling. He only focuses on his own losses and what he can stand for moving forward.
After reading the letter, Judge Persky believed it was a sufficient apology. He ended up sentencing Turner to jail time, probation, and required the 20-year-old to register as a sex offender.
“A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others.”
But isn’t that the point of prison? To have a “severe impact” on him because he was a “danger to others”?
Bravo @CNNAshleigh for reading the Stanford letter on live TV and letting the victim’s powerful words shine. https://t.co/jjbDb2vTOD
— Chirlane McCray (@Chirlane) June 6, 2016
Turner’s victim, who has chosen not to give her name, even gave her own account of what happened that night and how it will impact the rest of her life. But apparently, when read alongside the letter from Turner’s own father, the personal account of the victim had no weight.
Rape culture is very real.
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