SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA — On June 2, 20-year-old former Stanford student Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail with three years probation for sexually assaulting an unconscious and intoxicated woman last year.
Before his sentencing, Turner wrote to the court a defense letter detailing his guilt and naivety towards alcohol consumption.
The letter, which has now been made public, is about 11 pages long.
In it Turner wrote, “Coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol. However, when I came to school in California, it had become what I expected when spending a Saturday with friends … Even though I had been charged with a crime, it didn’t deter me from still drinking because I carelessly thought that it was at the core essentials of being a college student...”
Prosecutors, however, showed evidence from his cellphone obtained in the investigation that showed Turner involved in drinking, smoking marijuana and even taking acid while in high school.
The letter goes on to detail Turner’s versions of events in which he said the victim fell due to being drunk and then consented to sexual activities.
But a victim impact statement, the woman wrote, “Note; if a
girl falls help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear, and insert your hand inside her vagina. If a girl falls help her up.”
Turner’s letter continued, “The night of January 17th changed my life and the lives of everyone involved forever. I can never go back to being the person I was before that day … At this point in my life, I never want to have a drop of alcohol again … I’ve lost two jobs solely based on the reporting of my case, I wish I never was good at swimming or had the opportunity to attend Stanford, so maybe the newspapers wouldn’t want to write stories about me.”
The victim wrote, “Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal ... Regretting drinking is not the same as regretting sexual assault.”
He ends his letter writing about the positive influence he could have on society if he was given probation. He wrote, “I want to be a voice of reason in a time where people’s attitudes and preconceived notions about partying and drinking have already been established. I want to let young people know, as I did not, that things can go from fun to ruined in just one evening.”
After midnight, on Jan. 18, 2015, Turner was seen by two grad students, Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson, sexually assaulting an unconscious female student, who was laying on the ground behind a dumpster on Stanford campus.
When they called out, Turner ran away. The two tackled him and held him until police officers arrived. Evidence showed that the victim was so heavily intoxicated that she did not regain consciousness until hours later.
Turner was convicted of three felony charges: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person, and penetration of an unconscious person.
