Stanford sex assailant Brock Turner appeals conviction, outraging activists

Brock Turner in his January 2015 booking photo. Brock Turner in his January 2015 booking photo. Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Stanford sex assailant Brock Turner appeals conviction, outraging activists 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

Brock Turner, the former Stanford student whose three-month jail stint for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman drew national condemnation, has filed an appeal that has reinflamed anger among activists and advocates of women who have endured sexual violence.

The 172-page brief submitted Friday in California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal alleges prosecutorial misconduct and deprivation of due process. Turner’s lawyer focuses much of his appeal on the alcohol consumption of the victim, known only as Emily Doe. And the brief argues that descriptions by prosecutors of the assault happening “behind a dumpster” were misleading “propaganda” intended to prejudice the jury.

“Regardless of whether it happened behind the dumpster or adjacent to the dumpster or the dumpster didn’t exist, he committed sexual assault,” said Jess Davidson, managing director of the group End Rape on Campus. “Turner clearly still does not get it.”

Michele Dauber, a Stanford law professor leading a campaign to recall Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced Turner, said the appeal was rife with victim-blaming.

“I don’t think Mr. Turner or his family ever accepted his guilt,” said Dauber, a family friend of the victim who followed the case. “I don’t think Mr. Turner ever accepted the jury’s verdict. He never expressed real remorse or took responsibility for his crime.”

Turner, a champion swimmer from Ohio who was on the Stanford team before becoming a registered sex offender, was arrested after two graduate students came across him early on Jan. 18, 2015, lying on top of a partially clothed, unconscious woman. The two had been drinking at a fraternity party, and Turner, who was then 20, digitally penetrated the woman while she lay on the ground. The graduate students tackled Turner after he tried to run away.

Turner’s sentence of six months in county jail — he only served half of it — outraged politicians and others across the country.

Doe’s widely read 12-page victim-impact statement fueled attention across the nation and drew responses from people including then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of six years in state prison. Persky said he based the sentence on a recommendation in a probation report.

“Brock Turner received a fair trial and was justly convicted,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “His conviction will be upheld. Nothing can ever roll back Emily Doe’s legacy of raising the world’s awareness about sexual assault.”

Jennie Richardson, organizer of Women’s March Bay Area, said, “If Brock Turner had received appropriate consequences for his crimes, he’d realize the severity of his actions. The brief is an insult to all women.”

After the case, California lawmakers increased permissible penalties for people convicted of certain sex crimes. One of the bills Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law changed the definition of rape to include penetration by an object against the will of a person unconscious or incapable of consent — in line with the FBI’s guidelines.

Without referring to the Turner appeal, the author of the legislation, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), asked Friday on Twitter. “How about due process for the victims?

“How often are we manipulated into prioritizing the abuser over the abused?” she said. “How often are we being suckered into a side of a debate that we shouldn’t even be having?”

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov