The Stanford Swimmer Scandal: Part Two

Join Jay Harris as he explores the controversial sentencing, public backlash, and broader implications of the Brock Turner trial.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back to playing Dirty sports Scandals. I'm your host
in scandal swiller Jay Harris. Last week's Brew was incredibly
dark as we started the story of Brock Turner, a
promising All American swimmer at Stanford whose life took a
dark turn after a sexual assault allegation. Tragically, his decision
the fateful night of January seventeenth, twenty fifteen didn't just

(00:32):
unravel his own life, it shattered his victim, Chanelle Miller's world.
Chanelle and lead prosecutor Alilai kean air Set were determined
for Brock to pay the price for her broken life, and,
as she would later pen Chanelle believed it when they
told you that if you're assaulted, there's a kingdom, a courthouse,

(00:52):
high up on a mountain where justice can be found.
But would Chanell find justice then? On February second, twenty fifteen,

(01:12):
Brock Turner was arraigned at the Santa Clara County Courthouse,
where he pled not guilty to all the charges against him,
two charges of felony sexual assault and one charge of
attempted rape. Judge Aaron Persky, who had graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from Stanford University and had been captain of the
Stanford men's lacrosse team, was presiding. The courtroom itself was

(01:35):
packed with spectators, journalists, and supporters both for Chanel and Brock.
The prosecution had a solid case against Brock Turner, with
substantial evidence pointing to his guilt. Key testimonies from the eyewitnesses,
Swedish graduate students Carl Frederick Arendt and Peter Johnson, and
forensic experts were all brought before the jury to make

(01:59):
clear brock wrongdoing. Carl, Frederick and Peter recounted stopping their bikes,
confronting Brock, and ultimately tackling him to the ground while
trying unsuccessfully to rouse an unconscious Chanel. Christine Sedederland, the
veteran Sexual Assault Response Team START nurse who had conducted

(02:19):
Chanell's physical at Valley Medical Center the morning of January eighteenth,
twenty fifteen, testified to the abrasions and arithema, which is
redness on the skin, that had been on various parts
of Chanel's body. Christine said these injuries indicated significant trauma,
including penetrating trauma, and explained that the arithema could be

(02:41):
compared to the redness that would appear after a person
is slapped. When defense attorney Mike Armstrong tried to discredit
Christine Sedederland, suggesting that the information provided to her by
the police prior to the exam might have influenced her observations,
she shot him down, stating, we don't only go with
what the victim says or what the police say. When

(03:03):
Attorney Armstrong pressed her further, pointedly asking if the injuries
spoke for themselves, Christine settled and calmly responded, yes, they did.
But even with the strength of the prosecution's third party testimony,
it was undoubtedly Chanell Miller's own voice that resonated most

(03:25):
powerfully in brock Turner's trial, Although she went by Emily
Doe to protect her identity during the proceedings, Chanell's testimony
of going out the chaperone her sister Tiffany, drinking too
much too quickly and losing consciousness, only to wake up
in a confusing hell at the hospital, covered in pine needles,
wounded and without any underwear struck a nerve with women nationwide.

(03:49):
Chanell Miller did not remember meeting brock Turner, let alone
leaving the party with him. She did not remember the
thirty minute ambulance ride to the hospital after the assault,
Prosecutor Kean Airsi held up a series of photographs taken
of Chanelle arriving at the hospital strapped onto a backboard
with pine needles strewn throughout her hair. Chanell testified that

(04:10):
she was unaware the photographs had even been taken. Chanelle
had clearly, by her own account and confirmed by medical professionals,
been unconscious and therefore physically unable to give consent for
sexual activity. Realizing that a gamble was necessary to counter
the prosecution's extremely strong case, attorney Mike Armstrong decided that

(04:34):
rock Turner himself should take the stand. Now, having a
defendant take the stand is like flipping a coin for
an attorney. According to Jeffrey Bellen, a William and Mary
Law School professor and jury researcher, only about fifty percent
of defendants testify at their own criminal trial because the

(04:55):
risk of a good prosecutor ripping a defendant to pieces
during cross examination is high. However, brock Turner's benign appearance
and white collar background made it a chance worth taking.
He appealed to the jury, painting himself as a victim

(05:15):
rather than a perpetrator. The contracost Oft Times reported that
Brock Turner told the jury of four women and eight
men that he didn't understand carled, Frederick's and Peter's concern
when they first approached him, But when one of the
graduate students tried to put him in a headlock to
subdue him, Brock said, that made me really scared. I
decided to run. Then when Peter tackled him, Brock told

(05:38):
the jury, I started screaming for help. Brock recounted how
he heard Peter asking him, do you think this is okay,
but said that he had no idea what he was
talking about. It just seemed like he hated me or something.
Brock insisted that Chanell had been awake and conscious the
whole time, and when his lawyer asked him if he
intended to raper, Rock firmly replied absolutely not. Throughout his testimony,

(06:04):
he Brock maintained that he didn't realize Chanelle Miller had
been unconscious and insisted that he would never have taken
advantage of someone in such a state the entire time
I was with her. If she was ever unconscious, I
would have gone for help. Brock insisted further Brock claimed
he was someone unaccustomed to the party lifestyle who would

(06:26):
naturally be unused to hooking up in an intoxicated state. Responsibly,
he described how he came from a small town in
Ohio where he didn't drink much and hardly ever partied.
Brock said his behavior on the night of January seventeenth,
twenty fifteen, was due to the drinking and party culture
at Stanford. Quote. Before this happened, I never had any

(06:48):
trouble with law enforcement, and I plan on maintaining that,
Brock said, I've been shattered by the party culture and
risk taking behavior that I briefly experienced in my four
months at school. It was Here's a bold statement from
the fallen swimmer, and one which was readily countered by
the prosecution, which presented text messages from Brock's phone during

(07:09):
high school painting a very different story. This evidence demonstrated
unequivocally that Brock Turner had engaged in partying, drinking, and
even drug use during high school, totally undermining his claim
of inexperience. Prosecutor Kean Aircy showed the jury that the
text messages on Brock's phone referenced doing acid or tried

(07:31):
to find a hookup to purchase acid, both in high
school and while at Stanford. Even more damning was a
December twenty fourteen video allegedly showing Brock smoking from a
bong and drinking out of a liquor bottle, as well
as numerous references in his text messages to smoking, buying,
and sharing marijuana from the time he was nineteen at least,

(07:54):
and certainly before he ever attended Stanford. One text exchange
with his sister Caroline in June twenty fourteen stood out
for its explicitness. In it, Caroline asked, did you rage
last night? And Brock responded, yeah, kind of. It was
hard to find a place to drink, but when we
finally did, we could only drink for like an hour

(08:15):
and a half. It wasn't just Brock's insistence of innocence
regarding alcohol and drug use that prosecutor alile Kian Ers
tore apart. She also presented clear evidence that the defense's
main argument was false, that Chanelle Miller had provided consent.
The jury was presented with photographs of Chanelle curled up

(08:38):
in a fetal position on the ground, surrounded by firefighters
and medics. Treating her on the night of January fifteenth,
twenty fifteen. Alice King, the supervisor of the Santa Clara
County Crime Labs Toxicology Unit, testified about the mental and
physical impairments. Someone at Chanel's level of intoxication would exhibit,

(08:58):
reinforcing that she Dannell had almost certainly been incapable of
providing consent. And then there was an incomprehensible voicemail. Chanelle
Miller left her boyfriend in Philadelphia at twelve fifteen am
on the night of the assault, driving home her total
lack of functionality under the influence. The jury also heard

(09:21):
from Carl Frederick Arndt and Peter Johnson, whose intervention and
brock Turner's attempt to flee the scene painted a starkly
different picture to the one the defense had painted. Had Brock,
an athlete, really been terrified of two Swedish graduate students
checking on a young woman's well being, It seemed far fetched,

(09:42):
and seasoned prosecutors view a defendant fleeing as a real
consciousness of guilt moment. This isn't just interpretation. Consciousness of
guilt is a type of admissible, circumstantial evidence that juries
may consider when determining whether it defended is guilty. There's
actually passage in the Bible, Proverbs twenty eight to one

(10:03):
that encapsulates this concept. Guilty men flee where no one pursues,
while the righteous stands bold as the lion. While brock
Turner certainly wasn't a lion. On the night of January seventeenth,
twenty fifteen, the prosecution had made a compelling case for
him being a predator. The jury was left to deliberate. Now,

(10:30):
before we head back to court, I recommend you sip up.
This case has an aftertaste, and for most it's a
bitter one. Enjoy your juice while you can't. Okay. Fast
forward to March thirtieth, twenty sixteen, when the jury reconvened
to declare that they'd found brock Turner guilty on three

(10:51):
counts of felony sexual assault. Justice had prevailed or not,
you see, it turned out not to be so straightforward.
After the jury announced its guilty determination, it was time
for Judge Aaron Persky to preside over Brock's sentencing hearing.
The prosecution naturally argued for a substantial prison sentence, emphasizing

(11:16):
the severity of the crime and the lasting impact it
had had and would continue to have on Chanelle Miller.
Prosecutor alile Kianairci recommended a sentence of six years in
state prison, aiming to set a precedent that would deter
future sexual assaults, but the defense had other plans. While
attorney Mike Johnson had already done his best to position

(11:38):
Brock as a contrite young man with a promising future,
Brock now had an opportunity to address the court directly
before his sentencing was concluded. His eleven page statement reiterated
that he had made an alcohol fueled mistake rather than
perpetrated an intentional sexual assault, and he emphasized that time
behind bars was unnecessary. Brock said, I am completely consumed

(12:03):
by my poor judgment and ill thought actions. There isn't
a second that has gone by where I haven't regretted
the course of events I took on January seventeenth and eighteenth.
My shell and core of who I am as a
person is forever broken from this. I am a changed
person at this point in my life. I never want
to have a drop of alcohol again. I never want

(12:24):
to attend a social gathering that involves alcohol. Or any
situation where people make decisions based on the substances they
have consumed. I never want to experience being in a
position where it will have a negative impact on my
life or someone else's. Ever again, I've lost two jobs
solely based on the reporting of my case. I wish

(12:45):
I never was good at swimming or had the opportunity
to attend Stanford, so maybe the newspapers wouldn't want to
write stories about me. All I can do from these
events moving forward is by proving to everyone who I
really am as a person. I know that that if
I were to be placed on probation, I would be
able to be a benefit to society for the rest
of my life. Brock Turner's statement did little to sway

(13:10):
public opinion. His words were viewed by most as an
attempt to minimize his responsibility and deflect blame onto external factors,
rather than taking full accountability for his actions. After all,
the prosecution had already dismantled his narrative of being a
naive and inexperienced young man, presenting copious evidence of partying, drinking,

(13:33):
and drug use long before the night of the attack
on Chanelle Miller. A statement from Brock's father, Dan Turner,
ignited additional public disgust. In his letter to Judge Persky,
Dan argued for leniency, saying quote, Brock's life has been
deeply altered forever by the events of January seventeenth and eighteenth.

(13:54):
His every waking minute is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear,
and depression. You can see this in his face, the
way he walks, his weakened voice, his lack of appetite.
Brock always enjoyed certain types of food and is a
very good cook himself. I was always excited to buy
him a big Ribbi steak to grill, or to get

(14:15):
his favorite snack for him. I had to make sure
to hide some of my favorite pretzels or chips because
I knew they wouldn't be around long after Brock walked
in from a long swim practice. Now he barely consumes
any food and eats only to exist. These verdicts have
broken and shattered him in our family in so many ways.
His life will never be the one that he dreamed

(14:37):
about and work so hard to achieve. That is a
steep price to pay for twenty minutes of action out
of his twenty plus years of life. Hmmm. Worrying about
Brock for losing his appetite for steak and pretzels after
committing an unconscionable sexual assault seemed entirely dismissive of Chanelle

(14:57):
Miller's deep suffering. Dan Turner's statement instantly became a symbol
of the privilege and entitlement many people feel that characterized
Brock's defense. Notably, John Pavlovitz, a pastor, blogger and father
in wake Forest, North Carolina, wrote Dan Turner a note
of his own entitled to Brock, Turner's father from another father.

(15:21):
In it, John told Dan quote, I need you to
understand something, and I say this as a father who
dearly loves my son as much as you must love yours.
Brock is not the victim here. His victim is the victim.
She is the wounded one. He is the damager. She
will endure the unthinkable trauma of his twenty minutes of

(15:43):
action for the duration of her lifetime. And the fact
that you seem unaware of this fact is exactly why
we have a problem. It's a problem that Chanell Miller
addressed personally in her victim impact statement, addressing Brock with
the words. You don't know me, but you've been inside me,
and that's why we're here today. That's how I begin

(16:06):
every day of my life, wondering where you are and
what you'll do next, if you'll hurt someone else, what
else you'll take away. I'm the victim of a sex crime.
So instead of feeling guilty that you'll go to jail,
I feel grateful, Grateful that the system worked, Grateful that
my voice was heard, Grateful that you will learn from

(16:28):
this and that it might deter others from committing the
same crime. Chanelle's statement went viral, striking a chord with
millions of women and drawing widespread attention to her case.
Advocacy groups and celebrities praised her courage. Even then Vice
President Joe Biden penned an open letter to Chanelle in
which he wrote, you will save lives. You will change lives.

(16:52):
You have already done so. But would Judge Aaron Persky
take up the cause of sexual assault survivors? Would you
throw the book look at brock Turner with up to
a fourteen year prison sentence, or grant him leniency as
requested by the defense. In June twenty sixteen, almost a
year and a half after Chanelle Miller was brutally assaulted.

(17:14):
Judge Persky's sentence brock Turner to just six months in
county jail and three years of probation, citing Brock's age,
lack of criminal history, and the potential impact the longest
sentence would have on his life. A prison sentence would
have a severe impact on him. I think he will
not be a danger to others, Judge Persky stated during

(17:35):
the sentencing. Shockingly, the judge also said that quote there
is less moral culpability attached to the defendant who was
legally intoxicated. In other words, Judge Persky rationalized that if
someone is drunk and commits a crime, they shouldn't be
held fully responsible for their actions under the law. His

(17:59):
nonchalant determination shook the foundation of the judicial system, and
ripples of outrage were swift and relentless. First, the jury raged,
with one male juror writing to Judge Perskey that quote,
after the guilty verdict, I expected that this case would
serve as a very strong deterrent to on campus assault,

(18:21):
But with the ridiculously lenient sentence that brock Turner received,
I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the
whole trial and the ability of the justice system to
protect victims of assault and rape. Clearly, there are few
to no consequences for a rapist, even if they are
caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person.

(18:42):
It seems to me that you really did not accept
the jury's findings. We were unanimous in our finding of
the defendant's guilt, and our verdicts were marginalized based on
your own personal opinion. This punishment you've set does not
fit the crime. Mister Turner, convicted of three fell accounts
of sexual assault, will serve three months in county jail

(19:03):
after serving the customary time of his six month sentence.
Justice has not been served in this case. The jury's
verdict of guilt on all three felony accounts of sexual
assault was completely disregarded in an effort to spare the
perpetrator a hardship. What message does this send to the
victim and indeed all victims of sexual assault and rape,

(19:25):
especially those on college campuses. Your concern was for the
impact on the assailant. I vehemently disagree. Our concern should
be for the victim. Shame on you. Judge Perski. For
Judge Aaron Perski being shamed by the jurors was just

(19:45):
the beginning. The Atlantic reported that the personal fallout was
swift for Perski, whose office began receiving threatening phone calls.
There was also an immediate online petition to recall Judge Perski,
which collected one point two million signatures in an instant.
The Santa Clara District Attorney's office filed a successful motion

(20:08):
to stop Judge Persky from presiding over another sexual assault
case within a week of brock Turner's sentencing, and by
twenty eighteen, Judge Aaron Persky was simply Aaron Persky. He
became the first judge in California to be recalled from
the bench since nineteen thirty two. When he finally gained
new employment in September twenty nineteen as a junior varsity

(20:32):
girls tennis coach at Lynbrook High School in San Jose,
his employment was terminated after just four days amidst community outcry.
Society was sending a strong message. While Aaron Persky might
tolerate sexual abuse and classism in the justice system, an
overwhelming percentage of Americans were sick to death of it.

(20:53):
So should Aaron Persky's recall from the bench be celebrated
as a victory for justice. On the one hand, Stanford
law professor Michelle Dauber argues yes, writing in The Washington Post,
that it is the very fact that judges like Persky
often exercised discretion in favor of defendants like brock Turner
that preserves a system in which poor and minority defendants

(21:16):
receive long sentences. Yet others disagreed with Professor Dauber, explaining
that though Judge Persky's recall may field empowering, in practice,
it's harmful. Retired judge Ldoris Cordell, a pioneering feminist and
the first black woman judge in northern California, argued that
recalling a judge for being lenient could have unintended consequences,

(21:40):
such as undermining judicial independence and leading to more punitive sentencing,
potentially harming black and Latino defendants. On the heels of
Judge Cordell's warning, two political scientists from NYU and the
University of Chicago actually conducted a study on the impact
of the Aaron Persky recall campaign on criminal sentencing. Their

(22:02):
research published in October twenty twenty revealed that judges began
imposing sentences that were roughly thirty percent longer on average
immediately after the recall campaign became public, and that much
as Judge Cordell had feared, these increased sentences maintained pre
existing racial disparities, disproportionately affecting black and Hispanic defendants. The

(22:25):
study also found that the longer sentences were primarily imposed
for non sexual and non violent crimes, raising questions about
the impact of Aaron Persky's recall. As Aaron Persky came
to grips with a new diminished reality following the Brock
Turner trial, Brock himself prepared for a future without swimming.

(22:49):
Right after his sentencing, USA Swimming, the national governing body
for competitive swimming in the United States, issued a statement
that he was ineligible for membership under their zero erotolerance
policy for sexual misconduct. This meant Brock would never be
allowed to compete in any USA Swimming sanctioned events, including
the Olympic Trials, and so upon his release from jail

(23:13):
on September second, twenty sixteen, Brock returned to his family's
home in Dayton, Ohio. Reporters camped outside his house, and
news outlets eagerly followed any updates about his post jail life.
The intense public and media scrutiny made it difficult for
Brock to reintegrate into society and resume any semblance of normalcy.

(23:35):
In twenty eighteen, Brock tried to overturn his conviction through
the appeals process, with his legal team arguing that the
initial trial was unfair due to misleading statements made by
the prosecution and incorrect jury instructions. However, the prosecution defended
the original conviction without issue, and in August twenty eighteen,

(23:55):
the appellate court rejected Brock Turner's appeal. He remains registered
as a sex offender and is subject to ongoing monitoring
by law enforcement for the rest of his life. As
of twenty nineteen, The Daily Mail reported that Brock was
working an entry level job at Tark Incorporated, a firm
that manufactures cooling technology for medical appliances, earning twelve dollars

(24:20):
an hour. A source at the company said he's really
quiet and polite. He doesn't say much and he's not
really chatty with anyone. He just keeps his head down
and does his job. No problems. By twenty twenty two,
Brockett moved into a house three minutes away from the
University of Dayton. To the great ire of locals, there

(24:40):
is actually a network of women who use Brock's status
as a registered sex offender to keep one another safe.
One post from this group, dubbed the Whisper Network reads,
brock Turner is frequenting bars in the area. Do not
let him leave with an intoxicated woman. Inform the women
of who he is. In Form the bartender, the bouncers.

(25:02):
Brock Turner does not belong in public. The swimming sensation,
once destined for greatness, now lives forever in the shadow
of his actions the night of January seventeenth, twenty fifteen.
And while he goes by his middle name these days,
Alan Turner rather than brock Turner, the public has a
long and unforgiving memory where he is concerned. Meanwhile, Chanelle

(25:26):
Miller began her own incredible journey towards healing and reclaiming
her identity. While she did not publicly reveal her identity
throughout the trial, going only by Emily Doe, on November first,
twenty sixteen, she was anonymously recognized as a Woman of
the Year by Glamour magazine for changing the conversation about
sexual assault forever. Chanell's impact statement had been read over

(25:50):
eleven million times by then, highlighting the profound effect her
words had on the public discourse. In twenty nineteen, buoyed
by overwhelming public support, Chanell Miller decided to step forward
at last and reveal her identity to the world on
Sixty Minutes. The interview coincided with the publication of her memoir,
Know My Name, which provides an unflinching look at her

(26:12):
experience from the assault and trial to her path to recovery.
Chanell's memoir was met with widespread acclaim. Praised for its honesty, eloquent,
and powerful narrative, it became a bestseller, debuting at number
two on the New York Times Bestseller List for nonfiction,
and was lauded for shedding light on the realities of

(26:33):
sexual assault. The memoir won several awards, including the National
Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. In twenty nineteen, Oprah
Winfrey selected Know My Name for her book club, calling
it a searingly, beautifully written and courageous account of a
survivor reclaiming her narrative and speaking out against injustice. Today,

(26:55):
Chanelle Miller continues to be an advocate for justice and change.
Her journey for from victim to survivor and activist serves
as a powerful reminder of the strength of the human
spirit and the importance of fighting for what is right.
Keep up with her at chanel Dashmiller dot Com as
she continues to make a difference. There's no doubt about it.

(27:15):
The brock Turner scandal is a complex brew that continues
to serve up stark reminders of the complexities and challenges
in addressing sexual assault, with significant flaws in our justice
system laid bare. No other case in recent memory has
sparked such broad conversation about the treatment of survivors and
accountability of perpetrators. Join me your host in Brave Maurista

(27:39):
Jay Harris. Back here next week for another episode of
Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a
production of Dan Patrick, Predut Ductions, Never Ever Productions, and

(28:02):
Workhouse Media from executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panella,
Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary, Hosted by Jay Harris, Written
and produced by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and
Jennifer Clary