The instruction & teaching of children demands something this dbag has never, and never will acquire.
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My guess is that he is/was friends with or related to whomever was in charge of hiring for this position.
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From that link:
Even the head prosecutor where Persky presided opposed the recall, noting that Persky was not actually known for leniency and that “most judges in California would have done the same thing” in sentencing Turner. (Indeed, Persky followed the probation department’s sentencing recommendation.)
Is this really true? Are the sentencing guidelines this lenient for sexual assault? This quote basically says that the sentence handed down was normal, and in the view of the California court system, proper. That’s horrifying.
Maybe I’m conflating this with another incident. We’re talking about the college swimmer kid that raped the passed out drunk girl behind a dumpster and only stopped because someone caught him? And then the judge noted he’d been kicked off the swim team and that was a huge punishment and any more would negatively affect his life? That Brock Turner?
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[insert banging-head-on-table GIF of choice]
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I certainly wouldn’t want any daughter of mine under this $hitheel’s supervision. Shame on the school for hiring a known a$$hole like Persky.
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Yeah, democracy, what a bummer. Maybe don’t coddle rapists? This kind of slippery slope handwringing is ridiculous.
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No. The fish rots from the head.
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Team name: “We consent”
Looks like he’s been fired.
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As was his common practice, the judge gave the sentence recommended by the probabtion officer. I’ve skimmed the report and the main reasons cited for leniency were the crime being Turner’s first offense, his youth, his apparent sincere remorse, that he was legally drunk with a BAC of .14, and that he would still be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.
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He was the sentencing judge, not the probation officer.
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It wasn’t his “common practice” to listen only to probation officers to determine sentencing. He was also happy to let prosecutors suggest sentencing he would impose.
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Systemically, the mitigating factors don’t give many similar offenders the same kind of softball sentence; people were right to start wondering what other factors the judge was thinking of when he decided to accept the suggestion of the probation officer instead of the minimum suggested by the state.
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Let’s not forget that being legally drunk is not a valid rationalization in other crimes like DUI.
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Yup. In fact, it’s pretty much an ‘admission of guilt’ for the victim if they’re assaulted: “She was drinking heavily; she should have known she was putting herself in harm’s way.”
I can’t help but notice that there are two swimmers in the news right now: this privileged white Stanford guy, for whom using the term “swimmer” as a descriptor humanizes him and makes him seem like more than just the violent sexual attacker than he is, and the young high school champion who was disqualified after winning an important meet (reinstated, and the ref involved has been or is in the process of being fired) because the standard issue bathing suit fit her non-white body differently and thus happened to ride up while she was swimming.
Why is it a justifiable excuse or a mitigating factor when men use alcohol or engage in sports, but for women, it’s somehow proof that they’re culpable in whatever happens to them?
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And the school’s excuse is “We didn’t know! He was a qualified candidate.”
Yeah. Right. Every hiring manager I have ever known does a quick google search before asking a candidate in for an interview. The ones I knew don’t go deep-diving into a candidates’ social media (though I’m sure some do) but are checking for things just like this- the candidate did something either controversial or bad that could impact the reputation of the company hiring.
Criminal records don’t show everything.
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He listened to everyone, but according to the AP:
“In both cases, Persky followed the sentencing recommendation of the Santa Clara County Probation Department. An Associated Press review of his rulings shows that Persky has adhered to the same practice in every trial where the probation office made a recommendation since he began presiding over a Palo Alto criminal court in 2015.”
To the best of my understanding similar offenders in front of Judge Persky did in fact get “softball” sentences as he preferred to divert first-time offenders to probation and rehabilitation programs instead of prison.
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It’s true that when the probation department advised that Frank Guerrero should be put away for three years for robbing someone, and that Brock Turner should get a three months (nominally six, but technically three) for a brutal sexual assault, that he listened to them. He takes responsibility for their reasoning when he does that though.
He did preside over some other lighter sentences in cases of sexual assault or domestic abuse, like Ikaika Gunderson, who had his sentencing for choking his girlfriend deferred for a whole year so that he could play football out-of-state.
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I can almost see a pattern…
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I think you both make fair points and it’s possible to agree that this judge should have been removed from the bench and worry about the message it sends to other judges. The fact is that a judge will essentially never bear consequences for sentencing each and every defendant brought before them harshly, at or near the high ends of the sentencing recommendations. The only thing that we actually punish judges for is using their leniency, which of course reinforces the tendency of judges to protect themselves by sentencing with a hammer across the board.
It’s a difficult position, because I happen to think we want to encourage judges to take individual circumstances into account and not just throw the book at every defendant, but reasonable people can all probably agree that this was a terrible use of that discretion, so mixed messages are inevitable.
Unsurprisingly, he looks like a grade A creep.
I’m a little late with this from 1977. He also lost the recall election, and the first woman judge in the county was elected.
