Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

Brock Turner released from Jail Early, As Victim Partially Recants Her Story

Released after just three months in the county jail for a notorious rape. Why?

Her lengthy statement was read out loud on the floor of Congress and by Vice President Joe Biden. Women staged dramatic readings of her 25 page manifesto. Her name is not known, and yet for two weeks she was the most famous woman in America. Everyone just knew that six months in jail was just not enough for such a heinous crime. But was it all the truth after all?

Convicted rapist Brock Turner has gone this year from being a Stanford student and a member of the varsity swim team, to being a convicted sex offender her. In California that means he will spend his life living in a handful of trailer parks that accept convicted sex offenders, that he will never have the kind of job most college graduates, let alone Stanford graduates, qualify for. His life is ruined.

As a prosecutor, I can read between the lines of why this famous case did not lead to a longer prison sentence for the Defendant, Brock Turner. People of the State of California v. Brock Allen Turner was filed on January 28, 2015. The original criminal complaint as filed with Santa Clara County Superior Court, includes counts of:

1.) Rape of an intoxicated person

2.) Rape of an unconscious person

3.) Assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman

4.) Sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object

5.) Sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object

It is important to note that Counts One and Two were withdrawn by the prosecution. Ordinarily, the most serious Counts in a criminal complaint are plead first and second, with less serious counts plead after. The fact that a District Attorney would move to dismiss Counts One and Two, indicates that even the prosecutor felt they were not proven by the evidence. It is a further hint that the victim who has still not come forward, has partially recanted her story.

The fact that she has not come forward is also interesting. Surely, everyone who knows this woman well already knows she was the victim or rape. Imagine how she would be celebrated if she did come forward.

Unlike Turner, she would be entitled to an appearance on the View, on Oprah, on any talk show she wanted. She would be vetted, offered money, fame, jobs. And yet this woman, the most famous woman in America, has preferred to remain anonymous rather than claim her fame and fortune. That speaks volumes. And it is not the shame of rape, which of course is a serious and damage in crime, but rather not wanting to be outed for inaccuracies in her story.

Stay tuned folks. There's more to this than meets the eye

 
 

Reader Comments(4)

Tio writes:

Nice assumptions. Classy journalism at its finest.

loutcelt writes:

Imagine, if you will, for a moment, Mr. Darrell, that you went out for a night of fun and next thing you know, you wake in a hospital where the staff informs you that you were penetrated against your will by a young man at the party you attended. Do you want to come forward? Do you want to be celebrated for having a foreign object shoved up your behind for someone else's sexual gratification. Especially while half the country is blaming you for the foreign object that was shoved up your backside because you had a few too many. And, though perhaps you can't imagine being this way, some people are private. They do not wish to have their private sufferings delved into by Oprah or The View ladies for the entire world to dissect, no matter how much fame or fortune is up for grabs. Your assumptions sir, are, erroneous and should not be stated as fact. I am ashamed of the Observer for calling this news, it should be in the opinion section

DixieT writes:

Assumptions, no matter how educated, are just that, assumptions, and they are NOT NEWS! I am surprised at the Observer to post such an article, with such an inflammatory title, based entirely on the assumptions of one individual, without actual facts involved. Has this author, presumably an prosecutor, never heard of early release for good behavior or time served. There are a multitude of reasons why Mr. Turner may have been released, and, as you have no actual facts about the situation, perhaps you should stop publishing your opinions as news.

Locodoe writes:

Where is there any indication that the victim recanted any part of her story? You seem to just be making that up. Are you another in a long line of rape apologists?