General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJudge on Stanford attacker's consent claims: "I take him at his word"
Ugh.
A recently-released transcript of the sentencing hearing for Brock Turner, the ex-Stanford swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, sheds new light on a judge's controversial decision to sentence Turner to six months in jail.
At the June 2 hearing, Turner's lawyer Mike Armstrong argued that Turner has admitted digitally penetrating the woman, but says that "in his drunken state, he remembered consent." In explaining his sentence, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky's appears to believe Turner is being truthful in that regard.
<snip>
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brock-turner-ex-swimmer-judge-in-stanford-sex-assault-case-i-take-him-at-his-word/
niyad
(113,049 posts)and I am very tempted.
Aristus
(66,284 posts)Really bad judgment, judge...
niyad
(113,049 posts)who used to be a prosecutor specializing in sex crimes, one would think he would know better.
Igel
(35,270 posts)That's sort of a problem. It's not he-said/she-said.
It's he-said/ ... .
Even if the judge said, "Don't believe the kid" it wouldn't have much mattered, I suspect because there's no competing claim. Instead of, "I take him at his word," the judge would have said, "No basis for an opinion." Which leaves us ... where, exactly?
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)you can't give consent.
niyad
(113,049 posts)unconscious (which is how the swedes found her) she was incapable of consent. PERIOD! I do not know why this is such a difficult concept for some to grasp.
niyad
(113,049 posts)you are nothing more than a rape apologist, and I hope your days on the bench are coming to a close through recall. you are a disgrace.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Of course you can take the defendant at his word that he "remembered consent." It's very convenient and self-serving for Mr. Turner to say so, but there's no reason to doubt that that's what Mr. Turner remembered. After all, even a judge can't read a person's mind.
The problem with Mr. Turner's remembrance, though, is that the woman he was in the process of raping wasn't conscious. It's really tough to get someone's consent in that state. That thing I just said about reading a person's mind? Yeah, it goes for the defendant, too. He can't read his victim's mind and claim there was consent when she wasn't competent to give consent because she was unconscious.
See how that works, your honor? It sounds like you were gulled, either by a devious defendant who is much smarter than you, or of your own volition.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Consent isn't a one-time yes or no. It is an ongoing agreement for personal intimacy. If someone consents to sexual contact, THEY CAN CHANGE THEIR MIND AT ANY TIME! And if they're unconscious, that's a NO. Always. This should not be difficult!
Eugene
(61,807 posts)"I'll take him at his word" or "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt"
has been heard in many sex assault cases.
niyad
(113,049 posts)check those records.
cali
(114,904 posts)WillowTree
(5,325 posts)uponit7771
(90,301 posts)... two sober people?
Yeah, he should be recalled or impeached or some shit... he's a horrible
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)one's outrage and disgust with this man?
niyad
(113,049 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I can't even say what I am thinking right now!