Critics are calling for Judge Aaron Persky’s removal and argue that he is unfit to fairly handle sexual assault cases. It was reported by The Guardian that in 2011, Persky “made several controversial rulings” in a civil trial an alleged gang rape victim brought against De Anza Community College’s baseball team.
In 2007, a 17-year-old identified only as Jane Doe claimed that she was sexually assaulted by a group of men. Three women from the De Anza women’s soccer team witnessed the incident and testified. A second victim came forward, but the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office did not file criminal charges.
A year later, Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against the alleged attackers, seeking damages. Persky presided over the civil suit hearings.
According to her lawyer, Barbara Spector, Persky allowed evidence that served to discredit the victim and benefit the defendants, including photographs of her at parties unrelated to the incident or evening in question.
“The impact was very definitely prejudicial for Jane Doe and had a positive impact for the defendants on the jury,” Spector said, calling the images “irrelevant” to the case.
The Guardian also reports that during the original trial, four of the alleged assailants asserted Fifth Amendments rights “not to self-incriminate during the discovery phase of the litigation.” While the previous judge ruled that they could stay silent provided that they would not be allowed to testify later on the case, Perksy overturned that ruling. He allowed a defendant to enter testimony after all.
Two of the defendants were “found not liable by the jury,” three “had charges dismissed” and four settled.
Aaron Persky’s record has come into question after an egregiously lenient sentencing in Brock Allen Turner’s case. Witnesses discovered Turner thrusting himself upon an unconscious, half-naked woman. He was convicted on three felony counts and faced up to 14 years in state prison for his crime.
He was left off with six months in county jail – a sentence that was recently reduced to three months. Persky argued that prison would have a “severe impact” on Turner and that he did not believe Turner would be “a danger to others.”
