A former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside a campus fraternity party is appealing his guilty verdict.

In an appeal filed Friday, lawyers for Brock Turner said the initial trial was “a detailed and lengthy set of lies.”

They hope a new trial will also help overturn his mandatory lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender.

The case gained national attention when Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in jail, which critics called much too lenient.


According to the Bay Area’s KNTV-TV, John Tompkins, Turner’s legal advisor, said that what happened was not a crime.

Tompkins said the facts do not reflect the verdict, which is why they are appealing.

Turner was convicted of three felony counts of sexual assault. At the time of his case, he was a decorated swimmer at Stanford.