After 3 months, Stanford swimmer convicted for sexual assault would be released from jail on Sept 2 for good behaviour

When Stanford University swimmer Brock Allen Turner was convicted of sexual assault of a unconscious woman and given a six-month prison term, it caused an uproar in social media. His early release on Friday will surely cause another protest.

Turner served only half of the six-month sentence given by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky and is being released on Sept 2 because of good behaviour. Prosecutors requested for six years, but Persky gave him only six months which many people felt was too lenient for the offence committed by the athlete, reports New York Post.

But Turner is not the only convict who served only half of his sentence. Associated Press reports that a lot of Santa Clara County jail inmates serve also only half of their sentences if they keep a clean disciplinary record.

Because of the controversy caused by Persky’s decision, the judge – often accused of being lenient toward athletes – recently no longer tried criminal cases. He was supposed to hear on Thursday the case of a plumber’s felony conviction for possession of child pornography. Lawyers of the plumber, Robert Chain, sought to reduce the charge to misdemeanor.

When the 48-year-old man was arrested in May 2014 and charged with downloading pornographic images of children, Persky sentenced the plumber to four days jail. Like in Turner’s case, Persky was also willing to reduce Chain’s sentence on good behaviour, reports CNN.

Similar to Turner’s case, Persky and his family, who were vacationing in early August, were exposed to publicity about Chain’s case, prompting the judge to take himself off the case.

VIDEO: Is Recalling Judge Persky a Victory for Sexual Assault Survivors or a Dangerous Precedent?

Source: Democracy Now