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Earlier this month, Turner went on trial. And on Wednesday, a jury found him guilty of three felonies including assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.
He now faces up to 10 years in prison, according to
the Los Angeles Times.
It was a stunning fall from grace for Turner. Once a record-setting swimming prodigy, he is now a convicted sex offender at age 20.
It was also a landmark case in the nationwide struggle to combat sexual assault on campus, at least according to prosecutors.
During the trial, they argued that despite his squeaky clean image and exalted status as a Stanford athlete, Turner deserved no special treatment.
“He may not look like a rapist, but he is the … face of campus sexual assault,” Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci told the jury, according to the Mercury News.
After the guilty verdict, prosecutors again argued that the case set an important national precedent.
“Today a jury of Santa Clara County residents gave a verdict which I hope will clearly reverberate throughout colleges, in high schools, anywhere where there may be any doubt about the distinction between consent and sexual assault,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen
said in a statement. “No means no, drunk means no, passed out means no, and sex without consent means criminal assault.”
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critics argued that the jury was harsh on Turner and treated an ambiguous and alcohol-fueled moment with black-and-white certainty.
“This was not a clear-cut case, and I hope the jury got it right,” commented one man on a local TV station’s coverage of the verdict. “Of course Turner made some terrible mistakes, but I will always wonder if consent happened or not.
“I also worry the ‘face of campus sexual assault’ was being prosecuted rather than the actual defendant,” he added. “The prosecutor was playing to the demands of Stanford female activists.”
With sentencing June 2 and an appeal possible, Turner’s once-promising future remains uncertain. But his extraordinary yet brief swim career is now tarnished, like a rusting trophy.
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