The court file of a former Stanford swimmer convicted of raping a woman behind a campus dumpster reportedly shows that he lied to a judge about his history of drinking and drug use, labeling himself as inexperienced in that field before his sentencing.
The San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday that prosecutor’s Alaleh Kiancerci’s file on Brock Turner contains texts and photos found on Turner’s cellphone indicating that he used drugs and alcohol in high school.
The prosecutor told Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Judge Aaron Persky about the lies during Turner’s sentencing hearing, but Persky failed to comment on Turner’s dishonesty.
According to the paper, material found on Turner's phone included video of him smoking from a bong and “drinking out of a liquor bottle.” The date capture indicated the video was taken Dec. 27, 2014 – more than a month before he assaulted a woman on the Stanford campus.
A series of other text messages show that Turner was asking friends for wax so he could do “some dabs.” Dabs are a potent form of marijuana that is a THC-concentrated mass. References to Turner buying, smoking or sharing marijuana date back to April 2014 when he was still living in Ohio.
The Mercury News also reported that Turner boasted about doing acid in a text message to a friend.
In a letter to the judge, Turner had portrayed himself as an inexperience drinker and a person with high moral values.
"Coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol,” he wrote. "Living more than 2,000 miles from home, I looked to the guys on my swim team as family and tried to replicate their values in how they approached college life."
The judge received several letters supporting Turner.
Retired federal prosecutor Margaret M. Quinn blamed the entire assault on alcohol.
"There is no doubt Brock made a mistake that night -- he made a mistake in drinking excessively to the point where he could not fully appreciate that his female acquaintance was so intoxicated. I know Brock did not go to that party intending to hurt, or entice, or overpower anyone,” she wrote.
Turner’s older sister Caroline asked the judge to spare prison time because of a “devastating irreverisible effect of what she described as "a series of alcohol-fueled decisions.”
Turner's father, Dan Turner, added to the controversy, writing that his son's life "will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20-plus years of life."
At Turner's sentencing, meanwhile, the victim read a 12-page statement in court, addressed primarily to Turner and taking him to task for not taking responsibility for his actions.
She did not criticize the university and thanked the graduate students who tackled Turner and summoned police.
"I stood there examining my body beneath the stream of water and decided, I don't want my body anymore. I was terrified of it, I didn't know what had been in it, if it had been contaminated, who had touched it," she said. "I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else."
"I don't sleep when I think about the way it could have gone if the two guys had never come. What would have happened to me?," she added, addressing Turner directly. "That's what you'll never have a good answer for, that's what you can't explain even after a year."
Ultimately, Turner received a six-month jail sentence. The decision has sparked outrage nationwide, with some calling for Judge Persky's removal from the bench.
In his ruling, Persky, who also attended Stanford, cited Turner's age, no "significant" prior legal problems and said he carried "less moral culpability" because he was drunk the night of the attack.
Persky also said that state prison could have a "severe" impact on Turner's life.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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