Brock Turner’s Age: Sentence, Appeal, and Judge Recall

Brock Turner is 30 years old. Born August 1, 1995, he was 19 when he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman outside a fraternity party at Stanford University in January 2015, a case that produced a widely condemned six-month jail sentence, the recall of the sentencing judge, two new California laws, and Turner’s lifetime registration as a Tier III sex offender in Ohio, where he must check in with the local sheriff every 90 days.¹

What Happened When Turner Was 19

In the early morning hours of January 18, 2015, Turner, then a freshman and varsity swimmer at Stanford, was found on top of an unconscious, partially unclothed woman behind a dumpster near the Kappa Alpha fraternity house.² Two Swedish graduate students, Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson, were biking across campus around 1 a.m. when they spotted him. Arndt later recalled that the woman “was not moving, while he was moving a lot,” and told CBS News he saw Turner “aggressively thrusting his hips into her.”³

Turner tried to run when the men approached. Jonsson tackled him and the two held him until police arrived, while Arndt stayed with the victim to make sure she was still alive.⁴ The woman did not regain consciousness until 4:15 a.m. at a hospital. Her blood alcohol concentration was 0.12% when measured, and estimated at 0.22% at the time of the assault.²

The Conviction and Sentence

On May 30, 2016, a Santa Clara County jury unanimously found Turner guilty on three felony counts: assault with intent to rape, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person, and sexual penetration of an unconscious person.⁵⁶ He faced a maximum of 14 years. Prosecutors asked for six.⁷

On June 2, 2016, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in county jail, three years of probation, and lifetime sex offender registration.⁵ Persky cited Turner’s youth, his lack of prior record, and the “severe impact” prison would have on him. He called Turner’s remorse “subjectively” genuine and said voluntary intoxication reduced Turner’s “moral culpability.”⁸ A petition to remove Persky gathered 55,000 signatures within two days.

Public anger intensified after Turner’s father, Dan Turner, sent the judge a letter describing the assault as “20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” He later said “action” referred to a period of time, calling it “an unfortunate choice of words.”⁹¹⁰

Turner served three months of the six-month term and was released from the Santa Clara County Main Jail on September 2, 2016.¹¹

The Survivor: Chanel Miller

Known during the case only as “Emily Doe,” the survivor delivered a 7,000-word victim impact statement at sentencing that opened with, “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today.”¹² After BuzzFeed published the full text, it drew 11 million views in four days, and Representative Jackie Speier read it on the floor of Congress.¹³

In September 2019, she revealed her identity as Chanel Miller with the publication of her memoir Know My Name. The book became a New York Times bestseller and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Ridenhour Book Prize, and the California Book Award.¹⁴

The Appeal

Turner appealed all three convictions. His attorney Eric Multhaup argued there was insufficient evidence and that Turner’s conduct was “outercourse” rather than attempted rape.¹⁵ On August 8, 2018, a three-judge panel of California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal unanimously rejected the appeal. Associate Justice Franklin D. Elia wrote: “We are not persuaded. While it is true that defendant did not expose himself, he was interrupted.”¹⁶

The Judge Was Recalled

Stanford Law professor Michele Dauber led a campaign to recall Judge Persky, arguing he had shown a pattern of leniency toward privileged defendants. The effort raised more than $1 million from over 5,000 donors and collected nearly 95,000 signatures. Twenty-nine Stanford Law professors signed a letter opposing the recall as “gratuitous and vindictive” and a threat to judicial independence.¹⁷

On June 5, 2018, Santa Clara County voters recalled Persky by 60 to 40 percent, roughly a third of the way through his six-year term. He was the first California judge recalled since 1932.¹⁸ Persky was later hired as a junior varsity girls’ tennis coach at Lynbrook High School in San Jose but was fired after his identity became public.¹⁹

The California Laws That Followed

Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills into law on September 30, 2016 in response to the case. Assembly Bill 2888 eliminated probation as a sentencing option for offenders who sexually assault a victim who is unconscious or unable to consent due to intoxication, imposing a mandatory prison sentence.²⁰ Had it existed at the time of Turner’s sentencing, he would have faced a minimum of three years in prison. Assembly Bill 701 expanded California’s legal definition of rape to include acts such as digital penetration, closing a loophole that had classified Turner’s conduct differently from assaults involving physical force.⁷

Where Turner Is Now

After his release, Turner returned to his family’s home in Greene County, Ohio, where he registered as a sex offender. Ohio classified him as Tier III, the state’s most serious designation, meaning lifetime registration and in-person check-ins with the Greene County sheriff’s office every 90 days.²¹ His photo, conviction details, and address appear on Ohio’s public registry. He cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school or playground, and the sheriff’s office must notify residents within 1,250 feet of his address by postcard. His probation required completion of a sex offender management program that included mandatory polygraph testing and cognitive behavioral treatment.²²

1
WCPO. How Ohio Sex Offender Registry Works
2
CNN. Stanford Rape Case Court Documents
3
BuzzFeed News. Meet the Two Swedish Men Who Caught Brock Turner
4
ABC News. Key Witness in Stanford Sexual Assault Case Breaks Silence
5
Harvard Law Review. California Judge Recalled for Sentence in Sexual Assault Case
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CNN. Brock Turner Appeal Rejected
7
The New Yorker. Revisiting the Brock Turner Case
8
The Guardian. Stanford Sexual Assault: Read the Sentence
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BBC. Brock Turner’s Father Condemned for Statement
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Los Angeles Times. Stanford Rape Case Father’s Statement
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NPR. Brock Turner Freed From Jail After Serving Half of Six-Month Sentence
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CBS News. Chanel Miller Reads Her Entire Victim Impact Statement
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PBS. How Chanel Miller Is No Longer Just Emily Doe
14
Penguin Random House. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
15
BBC. Brock Turner Loses Appeal Over Sexual Assault Conviction
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The New York Times. Brock Turner Appeal Denied
17
HuffPost. Brock Turner and Michele Dauber
18
Brennan Center for Justice. A Reflection on the Judge’s Recall in California
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CNN. Brock Turner Case Judge Fired From Coaching Job
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California Legislative Information. AB 2888 Bill Text
21
ABC News. Stanford Swimmer Brock Turner Registers as Sex Offender in Ohio
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CNN. Brock Turner Sex Offender Registry