The Santa Clara District Attorney has removed Judge Aaron Persky from hearing a case involving a male nurse who sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient.
Judge Persky has come under fire since his decision earlier this month to give a former Stanford star athlete just a “slap on the wrist” after he was convicted of raping a woman who passed out at a fraternity party.
Persky is also being criticized for abruptly dismissing charges against a San Jose woman in a misdemeanor theft trial.
“After this and the recent turn of events, we lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing,” DA Jeff Rosen said.
NPR reports that the sentencing of Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer, was so unpopular that at least 10 potential jurors in an unrelated case last week asked Persky to release them from duty because they said they could not serve under him.
Turner was given six months in county jail but could have gotten up to 14 years in prison for the three felonies he was found guilty of.
The victim says she came to in a hospital bed, bloodied and bruised, and slowly learned she was raped ‘in the dirt behind a dumpster’.
She was outraged over the sentence and says it was bad enough to hear Turner’s claims that she liked what he was doing.
Turner’s attorney said “prison would have a severe impact on him”. Many believe that privilege and race played a role in the light sentence. His father pleaded for leniency saying Brock is already paying such a steep price for “20 minutes of action”.
Meantime, a Florida nurse has launched an online petition to have Judge Persky recalled.
© 2016 Bright Mountain Media, Inc.
All rights reserved. The content of this webpage may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written consent of Bright Mountain Media, Inc. which may be contacted at info@brightmountainmedia.com, ticker BMTM.
