UPDATE (June 7, 2016):
It turns out that the first Brock Turner mug shot released yesterday (right), showing the convicted rapist and former Stanford swimmer with close-cropped hair and a suit jacket, was his post-sentencing booking photo taken on June 2.
After further pressure from the public and the media for his arrest mugshot taken the night Turner raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster outside a fraternity house, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department finally relented. Here is Turner’s initial mugshot, taken the night he was arrested (below and above left).
Here's Brock Turner’s original arrest mugshot via @diana_prichard (who deserves credit for staying on top of this). pic.twitter.com/s2wWlzRxlJ
— ameliamagritte (@xoamelia) June 7, 2016
UPDATE (June 6, 2016, 5 p.m. EST):
At long last, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department has released Brock Turner’s mugshot. I have updated the post accordingly.
After back and forth all AM with SDUPS and Santa Clara County, this is the #BrockTurner #mugshot they just sent me: pic.twitter.com/ZzFoOPD3he
— Diana Prichard (@diana_prichard) June 6, 2016
ORIGINAL STORY:
On March 30, 2016, Brock Turner, 20, was found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious and intoxicated young woman outside a Stanford University fraternity house in January 2015. On Friday at Turner’s sentencing hearing, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office recommended that the former Stanford University student be sentenced to six years in prison, or less than half the maximum sentence of 14 years for the three felony charges (assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object).
Instead, Judge Aaron Persky, himself a Stanford University alumni, sentenced Turner to six months in county jail, plus three years probation, saying that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him” and “I think he will not be a danger to others.” Prosecutors described the sentence as a “slap on the wrist.”
In addition to testifying at Turner’s trial, the victim, now 23 years old, submitted a 12-page impact statement to the judge, and read a portion aloud during the hearing. She directed her remarks directly to Turner, who maintains that the victim consented to sexual activity behind a dumpster in the early morning hours of January 18, 2015. The entirety of her statement was republished with permission by Buzzfeed and can be read here, but below is an excerpt:
“I tried to push it out of my mind, but it was so heavy I didn’t talk, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t interact with anyone. After work, I would drive to a secluded place to scream. I didn’t talk, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t interact with anyone, and I became isolated from the ones I loved most. For over a week after the incident, I didn’t get any calls or updates about that night or what happened to me. The only symbol that proved that it hadn’t just been a bad dream, was the sweatshirt from the hospital in my drawer.
One day, I was at work, scrolling through the news on my phone, and came across an article. In it, I read and learned for the first time about how I was found unconscious, with my hair disheveled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled off over my shoulders and pulled up above my waist, that I was butt naked all the way down to my boots, legs spread apart, and had been penetrated by a foreign object by someone I did not recognize. This was how I learned what happened to me, sitting at my desk reading the news at work. I learned what happened to me the same time everyone else in the world learned what happened to me. That’s when the pine needles in my hair made sense, they didn’t fall from a tree. He had taken off my underwear, his fingers had been inside of me. I don’t even know this person. I still don’t know this person. When I read about me like this, I said, this can’t be me, this can’t be me. I could not digest or accept any of this information. I could not imagine my family having to read about this online. I kept reading. In the next paragraph, I read something that I will never forgive; I read that according to him, I liked it. I liked it. Again, I do not have words for these feelings.”
Two Stanford graduate students witnessed Turner on top of the victim’s unresponsive body and then chased Turner down when he ran, holding him until officers from the Stanford University Department of Public Safety arrived and ultimately arrested Turner. The still-unconscious victim was transported to a nearby hospital, where she did not awake for another three hours. Turner was released on a $150,000 bond. You can read the full 53-page complaint, including statements from Turner, the victim and various witnesses here.
In rendering his decision, Judge Persky cited positive character references from such sources as Turner’s father, Turner’s otherwise clean criminal record and the role of alcohol in the crime as having informed his decision to go easy on the convicted rapist. However, given the fact that Turner was found guilty on all charges – and intends to appeal his conviction – it’s difficult to understand how the judge could conclude that Turner does not pose a danger to others, when he has still not taken responsibility or expressed remorse for his criminal actions. Persky told the court that he was not convinced that Turner’s “lack of complete acquiescence to the verdict should count against him.”
Then there’s the character letter written by Turner’s father, Dan Turner, which appears to have influenced Judge Persky’s decision to impose a lenient sentence. Portions of the letter were read aloud at the sentencing hearing, and an excerpt was posted on Twitter by Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor who attended Turner’s trial and helped draft the university’s new procedures for penalizing sexual violence. The full letter can be read here, but below is the excerpt that ignited a firestorm on Twitter. In it, Dan Turner refers to the sexual assault of an unconscious woman as “20 minutes of action” and mourns his son’s loss of appetite for rib-eye steaks:
#brockturner father: son not "violent" only got "20 mins of action" shouldn't have to go to prison. @thehuntinground pic.twitter.com/IFECJs687b
— Michele Dauber (@mldauber) June 5, 2016
Dan Turner, like his son, does not acknowledge that the “20 minutes of action” he refers to was determined to be sexual assault by a jury of 12, nor does he recognize that sexual assault is a violent crime. And yet, he argues that Brock Turner should be given probation, so he can “give back to society” by educating other students about “the dangers of alcohol consumption and sexual promiscuity.” In other words, the elder Turner argues, a person convicted of rape, who refuses to admit fault, should be spared prison time so that he can “educate” others about the two lines of defense that he tried to use to justify his actions, which failed to convince a jury of his innocence. And somehow, Judge Persky agreed.
Turner’s victim told Buzzfeed that she is disappointed with the “gentle” sentence and angry that Turner still denies sexually assaulting her. “Even if the sentence is light, hopefully this will wake people up,” she said. “I want the judge to know that he ignited a tiny fire. If anything, this is a reason for all of us to speak even louder.”
One last thing of note: As I was researching this article, I noticed that none of the news articles about the case were accompanied by Brock Turner’s mugshot, instead using photos of him provided by Stanford University, culled from Turner’s social-media profiles, or pictures taken during trial. Digging a little deeper, I was surprised to discover that Brock Turner’s mug shot does not exist online at all, and seemingly was never released to the public by either the Stanford University Department of Public Safety, which arrested Turner; or the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, which booked him. (Others have noticed this as well, using the hashtag #NoMugShot on Twitter.) Given that Turner was not underage at the time of his arrest, and was subsequently charged and prosecuted, it’s unusual that his mug shot photo has never been made public.
According to the nonprofit First Amendment Coalition, California’s Public Records Act states that “state and local law enforcement agencies shall make public” the following information:
The full name and occupation of every individual arrested by the agency, the individual’s physical description including date of birth, color of eyes and hair, sex, height and weight, the time and date of arrest, the time and date of booking, the location of the arrest, the factual circumstances surrounding the arrest, the amount of bail set, the time and manner of release or the location where the individual is currently being held, and all charges the individual is being held upon, including any outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions and parole or probation holds Gov’t Code § 6254(f).
The language does not explicitly stipulate whether the release of booking photographs (i.e. mug shots) is required or exempt. A 2003 opinion from the Attorney General reportedly said that “mug shots fall within the ‘records of investigations’ exemption” and therefore releasing mug shots to the public is up to the discretion of law enforcement. However, according to the First Amendment Coalition, “the California Supreme Court has explained that this exemption applies only to a record that ‘on its face purport[s] to be an investigatory record.'”
The nonprofit goes on to state: “Arguably, mug shots are not on their face records of an investigation, and may not be withheld under the investigatory exemption except where they are legitimately used for investigatory purposes.”
It’s unclear why Brock Turner’s mug shot has been withheld for the last 16+ months since his arrest. But the investigation is over now, and he has been charged, prosecuted, and found guilty of the crimes he was arrested for, and in theory, any such exemption no longer applies. I have reached out to the Stanford University Department of Public Safety and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department in hopes of learning more about why Turner’s mug shot has been withheld, as well as to request its immediate release. I will update this post with more information as soon as I have it.
UPDATE: According to a representative at Stanford University’s Department of Public Safety, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department does have a mug shot for Brock Turner on file, but “they will not be releasing it,” offering no further explanation.
Read more:
Felony Complaint Case Summary (Document Cloud)
Letter from Dan Turner (Document Cloud)
Photo: CBS News
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