Stanford law prof spearheads campaign to recall Brock Turner judge

Case to be subject of CNN town hall on Tuesday

UPDATE @ 10:50 p.m.

A Stanford University professor is leading the campaign to recall the judge in the Brock Turner sexual assault case.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced the 20-year-old Oakwood High School graduate and ex-Stanford swimmer to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus.

Professor Michele Dauber is critical of the judge’s decision to exclude Turner from a mandatory two-year prison term following his conviction in March of three felony charges stemming from the January 2015 assault, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Dauber last week was the first to tweet the letter Turner’s father, Dan, wrote to the court seeking leniency, in which he described his son’s sexual assault as “20 minutes of action” and stated his son no longer could enjoy eating, not even his favorite steak.

She posted a tweet on Friday that stated Persky “wrongly showed more mercy for Turner than his victim.” She has stated that Turner’s sentence “means that (Persky) has essentially taken campus rape out of the category of things you can go to prison for, and awarded it a lighter sentence.”

EARLIER REPORT

CNN will air an hourlong town hall special Tuesday night to discuss the Brock Turner sexual assault case.

The forum, “The Letter and the Law: The Stanford Rape Case Town Hall,” is scheduled to air at 9 p.m.

It will be co-hosted by CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield and Alisyn Camerota. Audience members will include victims of sexual assault, experts, lawmakers and the families of assault victims.

The town hall follows the sentencing of Turner, who was given six months in jail by California Judge Aaron Persky after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on the Stanford University campus.

The sentence has caused a public uproar, with many believing the punishment was too light. The case has also ignited discussion about campus sexual assaults, college culture, fairness and justice.

CNN’s town hall will air eight days after Banfield read Turner’s victim’s letter, directed toward the trial judge, in its entirety on her daytime show.

Consult the channel lineup for your TV service to find the channel listing.

— By Grant Pepper, Staff Writer

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