Yes. I was think of Labrie as well. @momofthreeboys, you should familiarize yourself with the details.
The same judge was involved in the De Anza rape case. Compared to that one, this was “easy”. 3 felony convictions, 2 independent eyewitnesses, a perp who fled, physical evidence, etc. What made the judge go so far from the usual sentence guidelines? It seems like affluenza all over again.
Interestingly, the DA who declined to press criminal charges in the De Anza case was resoundingly defeated at the next election. The same voters will decide this judge’s fate.
Well I do believe alcohol plays a huge part in this story as it does in drunk driving stories and more so when two drunk drivers collide so at that point I would have to differ. As far as “Owen” and I’m assuming you are talking about the prep school thing, I don’t think they were both drunk, or were they? And if I recall she was not legally an adult so probably not a good comparison legally.
As a former sex crimes prosecutor, the judge certainly wouldn’t have been biased in favor of the defense. I’m sure the defense saw him as a pretty poor draw when he was assigned to the case.
I will repeat that I agree that the sentence seems much, much too light. But I really don’t have a good handle on sex crime sentences in the state generally or in Santa Clara specifically, so it is hard for me to judge whether it is in line with other sentences. The judge prosecuted these cases for years; he would have a very strong knowledge base on sentencing.
Also, the judge actually heard the evidence; we didn’t. Press reports often miss quite a bit. I certainly would not want any judge making decisions based on outside political pressure.
For me, intent is important. In the drunk driving case, the driver broke the law by DUI, but he had no intent of running someone over. In the drunk sexual assault case, there was an intent to harm (violate) someone.
I am going to bet that this young man will not be a lifetime registrant on the the sex offender list. Nor do I believe many college age men who find themselves in similar circumstances will stay on the list for a “lifetime.”
The federal law has a procedure to apply for a reduced time frame - basically need a clean record for a certain amount of time for cases that do not involve abuse of children. From what I can tell from the websites of the attorneys that handle the reductions, you get a reduction under the federal law and then take it to a state judge to expedite that time frame even further. Get a judge like the one presiding over Brock Turner’s case and it most likely is a done deal.
This is done quietly with little publicity.
Yesterday on NPR there was a segment about Sarah Hepola who authored the book, A Path From ‘Blackout’ Drunkenness To Sobriety And Self-Acceptance. It was about her history of drinking and blackouts. What I did not realize was blackouts do not mean being unconscious. She explained she would be in a blackout and be fully conscious and functioning but not realize what was going on. It is like the brain becomes unengaged from your normal self. You don’t remember what happened after you snap out of it. She was prone to this as a lot of women who can’t process alcohol very well.
I find this really scary that one can be so disconnected to that cautionary voice inside of us all, way past the normal relaxation alcohol brings. This should be required reading for all young adults. Woman should be aware of this, they are most vulnerable and men should be aware of it so they understand the seriousness of it. I doubt that it would stop a predator, that is another level of scary altogether and this guy was a predator.
Why do you think he was a predator? In the prep school story there were definitely predatory actions by people who had participated in the senior salute including Labrie who got caught. I don’t recall anything about this case that implied he was a predator or had a history of preying on drunk women or women in general? That would go to the heart of the sentencing also, if he had a history and might be a threat to women in which case maybe 6 months isn’t “long enough”. I’ll go back and skim what is out there in the news.
No, not true. He will only be on the ballot if an individual chooses to run against him. He’s a former DA; the DA’s office is not going to want someone to challenge him from their office. The DA’s office loves to have former prosecutors on the bench.
If someone does choose to run against him, the voters will have a choice between this sitting judge and the challenger, who may or may not be qualified. Right now, there’s a guy running against a sitting judge in LA County. The guy has almost no litigation experience, hasn’t practiced law in years, and runs a food and wine business. A few years ago, a non-practicing lawyer who ran a bagel shop ran against a sitting judge. So even when judges are challenged voters don’t often have a qualified alternative choice.
(The bagel lady actually won because she challenged a judge with a very foreign sounding nane, but that’s the subject for a different message board.)
If the judge was a DA and then he certainly knows the sentencing history for sexual assaults.
nottelling: It is asking a whole lot, but I wonder if you have the time to research whether this sentence is in line with other sentencing, and also to say something about the socioeconomic makeup of the jurisdiction the judge covers. I wonder how homogeneous it is?
Maybe someone else has access to this information and time to post it? Ucb?
It is still predatory behavior to try to rape a woman who is unconsious. Also, the Labrie comparisons have more to do with behavior after the fact to try to reduce the sentence, not so much the act itself. Although I personally would not want my daughters to associate with either of them.
@momofthreeboys He was at the party looking for a hook up and hitting on women. He chose the most vulnerable woman, did not care that she was drunk, she was an ideal victim. This is not a stupid man, this is a predator who knew exactly what he was doing. I don’t dismiss the stupidity of allowing oneself to be a victim. One is stupid, the other is criminal.
I agree that the context in the jurisdiction is important. There’s no reason he should get a lot more or less time than other first-time offenders. If I’m starting from scratch, I’d like to see more jail time (1-5 years) and less offender registry time. I don’t believe that creating an unemployable, unhousable underclass of former offenders makes anyone safer.
@momofthreeboys, what I hear from you and that analogy is victim-blaming. “…the incident (driving or sex) might not have occurred if one or bother were not drunk…”
First, this wasn’t sex, it was rape.
Second, her sobriety (or lack thereof) does not mean she is to blame, unlike your drunk driving scenario. The victim here is not at fault.
My guess is that sentencing lines up with the age of the victim, the circumstances leading up to the assault, history of the guilty party, the guess of likelihood of the guilty party repeating the crime, the guilty persons stability and willingness to admit that what they did was wrong and those sorts of things. Sentences rarely happen in a vacuum. I guess I was not surprised at the sentence in this case and was surprised that others thought it was lenient.
@alh – As far as demographics, the Court is Santa Clara County Superior Court, which as you know covers Silicon Valley and is one of the wealthiest areas in the country. I just looked up the demographics, and the population is pretty evenly split among Latinos, Asians, and non-Latino whites. There are very few African Americans.
Doing the research on other sentences would be a herculean task, and the necessary information would not be readily accessible. Because of the difficulty with determining the relevant comparables, the California justice system has an independent agency – the probation department – review each case, review the evidence, and make an independent recommendation on sentencing, in an attempt to make sentencing fair across the County (and maybe the state). The judge here – like most judges in in criminal cases – adopted the sentence recommended by the probation department. The probation department prepares an extensive report; I’m not sure if it is made public or not.
That really does bear emphasis. Departing from the probation department’s recommendation is within the judge’s perogative, but is rare. Here, the judge followed the recommended sentence.
^^Thank you.
I am not sure where to find that kind of information on sentencing. I would also be interested to see if the suggestions that he would have been more severely punished had he been of a different race have validity.
I’m terribly sorry for that young lady. I read that post last night and it was heartbreaking. I am glad that she had people to support her throughout it.
It’s sad that campus rapes happen so often that I know before opening the thread which poster(s) is going to be involved in gross victim blaming.
Never fails.