Story highlights
- Sheriff: Brock Turner "should be in prison right now"
- Turner leaves jail without talking to reporters; he must register as a sex offender
(CNN)A prosecutor argued he should spend six years in prison. A judge ruled he should be jailed for six months.
And after sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and spending three months behind bars, it took Brock Turner less than 30 seconds to walk out of a California jail Friday.
The former Stanford University swimmer bowed his head as he rushed past a crowd of reporters. He didn't say a word before getting into a white SUV awaiting him.
"We don't know who picked him up or where he's going, but we're done with him," Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters outside the jail. "He should be in prison right now, but he's not in our custody."
The case drew national attention after the victim's wrenching impact statement went viral. The brevity of Turner's sentence triggered outrage against the judge and controversy over how the justice system treats sexual assault survivors.
Similar furor was on display Friday. Hours after Turner's release, protesters chanted and waved signs outside the Santa Clara County jail.
Their focus: Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced Turner in June. Several speakers called for Persky to be removed from office through a recall election.
"There is no justice in the light sentence and early release of Brock Turner," said U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, a former prosecutor who represents the San Francisco Bay area. "Are you ready to give Judge Persky the early release that he deserves?" The crowd shouted, "Yes!"
As demonstrators chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho, Judge Persky has got to go," they held signs saying "protect survivors, not rapists," "Hold Persky accountable" and "Because our daughters deserve better."
A bicyclist carries a sign critical of the judge's sentencing in the Brock Turner case Friday in San Jose.
Turner's attorney declined to comment on the case Friday.
What's next for Turner?
Like most offenders in California sentenced to county jail, Turner, who turned 21 while behind bars, was released under a law that gives inmates credit for time served.
Now he must register as a sex offender for life. He's expected to return to his family's home in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio.
If he does, he'll have five days to register as a sex offender there, and he must register again every 90 days, Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer told CNN.
Turner's picture, conviction information and address will be publicly available on Ohio's sex offender registry, Fischer said.
Additionally, anyone living within 1,250 feet of Turner's address will be notified with a postcard. And he will not be allowed to live within 1,000 feet of schools or playgrounds, the sheriff said.
While Turner's jail sentence is finished, he must still complete three years of probation when he returns to Ohio. He will enter a sex offender management program for at least one year or as long as three.
Such programs tend to consist of group counseling sessions led by psychologists focused on cognitive behavioral treatment. Typically, the goal is to address underlying anti-social behavior that leads to distorted ways of thinking about sex, relationships and empathy toward others.
Why Was Stanford Sexual Assault Sentencing So Light? 03:04
As part of the program, Turner must submit to polygraph tests.
Additional requirements include notifying law enforcement of changes in address, employment, education schedule, vehicles, telephone numbers, volunteer work and Internet access information such as user names and passwords for emails, websites and social networking sites.
Prosecutor asked for 6-year sentence
After two days of deliberations in March, a jury found Turner guilty of three felony counts: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person.
Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci said Turner should get a six-year sentence in state prison, arguing that he lacked remorse and that his victim was especially vulnerable in her unconscious state.
But Persky took a different tack, following the probation department's recommendation of probation and county jail time, based on Turner's lack of criminal history, his show of "sincere remorse" and the fact that alcohol was involved, impairing his judgment.
Did race affect Stanford rape case? 04:30
Additionally, the judge said he'd considered the "severe impact" a state prison sentence would have on an offender of Turner's age.
"I think you have to take the whole picture in terms of what impact imprisonment has on a specific individual's life. And the impact statements that have been -- or the, really, character letters that have been submitted, do show a huge collateral consequence for Mr. Turner based on the conviction."
Judge targeted for recall
Outcry over Persky's sentence, which was considered too lenient in the eyes of many, was quick and substantial.
Nearly 1 million sign petition to remove judge 02:31
A campaign to recall Persky has gained momentum.
In the meantime, supporters of the judge responded with their own campaign this week with a website called "Retain Judge Persky." The site has an "About Judge Aaron Persky" page, which includes a statement purportedly from the judge, as well as a section for contributions.
At his request, Persky will no longer hear criminal cases after a transfer to the civil division by the end of September.
Also this week, state lawmakers passed a bill written by the Santa Clara district attorney's office, calling for mandatory prison time for those convicted of committing sexual assaults upon intoxicated or unconscious victims.
Smith, the Santa Clara County sheriff, gave reporters outside the jail Friday a copy of a letter she sent to California Gov. Jerry Brown this week, urging him to sign the bill.
"As the Sheriff of Santa Clara County and a mother I believe that the interests of justice are best served by ensuring that sexual predators are sent to prison as punishment for their crime," she wrote. "Victims of these types of sexual assaults struggle for years to cope with the damage done to their lives and knowing that there is more just punishment to those that perpetrated these assaults may provide some solace to these victims."
'I am not just the livid victim'
In her victim impact letter she read in court before Turner's sentencing, the woman described blacking out at a fraternity party and waking up in a hospital with pine needles in her hair, dried blood and bandages on the backs of her hands and elbows, her underwear missing.
She described finally learning what happened to her at the same time everyone else did, through news reports: how she was found unconscious behind a dumpster between two fraternity houses, her dress pulled over her shoulders, bra pulled down, naked from the waist down. Two passers-by stopped when they saw Turner grinding against her unconscious body; he ran and they chased after him, pinning him to the ground until police showed up.
"I don't sleep when I think about the way it could have gone if the two guys had never come. What would have happened to me?" she said.
Addressing Turner directly, she described how he destroyed not just one life, but two. She told of her struggle to shed the victim label that had been pressed upon her, and urged him to see the error of his ways, convinced that he still doesn't get it.
"Every day, I have to relearn that I am not fragile; I am capable; I am wholesome; I am not just the livid victim," she said.
"Your life is not over. You have decades of years ahead to rewrite your story. But right now, you do not get to shrug your shoulders and be confused anymore. You have been convicted of violating me intentionally, forcibly, sexually, with malicious intent, three felonies, and you have only admitted to drinking alcohol."
She urged Persky to disregard the probation officer's recommendation of straight probation, based on findings that Turner was considered low risk to reoffend and had already endured great losses.
"Had Brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, I would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward," she said.
"However, this was not the case. My family and I have endured over a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering, and he should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, of making us wait so long for justice."
