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"Twenty Minutes of Action" Judge Cleared of Misconduct

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Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky paid careful attention to defense submissions in the Stanford rape case this past spring, including, famously, the one arguing that the defendant, varsity swimmer Brock Turner, should not be forced to pay a steep price for merely "20 minutes of action."

Normal people would have a hard time understanding that "20 minutes of action" is defense lingo for dragging a mostly inebriated young woman behind a dumpster, pulling her pants down, and having some good, 'ole college fun before been spotted and chased down by two shocked bystanders.  But normal people don't swoon over sexual predators, either.

Even liberals had to pretend to be shocked by the six month "sentence" Persky gave Turner (in reality, just three months actually served).  A petition of complaint was filed before the Commission on Judicial Performance, which today cleared the Judge. Its conclusions are here.
The key paragraph, I thought, was this one:

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.  First, the sentence was within the parameters set by law and was therefore within the judge's discretion.

To paraphrase St. Anslem, "Consider an argument for serious mandatory minimum sentencing a better than which cannot be conceived."

My short piece in the NYTimes arguing that Judge Persky should be removed from the bench is here:  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/06/08/should-an-unpopular-sentence-in-the-stanford-rape-case-cost-a-judge-his-job/a-judges-recall-is-warranted-for-an-indecent-sentence 

3 Comments

In my view, the appropriate response is to amend the statute that specifies the crimes that render a defendant ineligible for probation.

The sex offender registry for life is no picnic. Not saying that the six months was kosher, but this guy got the hammer.

I agree that life on the sex registry is very, very tough for a 20 year-old with no priors. Perhaps five or ten year segments, with the offender having the opportunity and burden to show why he should be removed.

The other side is that this was a classic sex assault. It wasn't public urination and it wasn't one of these Romeo/Juliet things. It was public, degrading even by the usual measures, exploitative and gross. He was a varsity athlete who could overpower her even if she'd been sober, which she certainly wasn't.

If we are to have registries, little Brock belongs on it, at least for a time.

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