They’ve been gunning for his head for a year, and they are 59,000 signatures away from getting it on the ballot.
Rape-culture activists have proven they are even more contemptuous of the judiciary than President Donald Trump by formally seeking the ouster of Judge Aaron Persky in Santa Clara County Superior Court, because he ruled in line with sentencing guidelines in a campus rape case.
Stanford swimmer Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail (though he only served half that) and three years’ probation, and he’ll be tagged as a sex offender for the rest of his life, ruining any chance at economic or professional success and severely limiting where he can live and go.
That’s not enough for the witch-hunters led by Stanford Law Prof. Michele Dauber, who is leading a recall campaign against Persky, a judge who is widely respected among both prosecutors and defense lawyers who appear in his court.
The Washington Post reports on the petition submitted by 50 California residents to get Persky off the bench:
Persky has seven days to respond to the petition, after which the committee has 150 days to collect nearly 59,000 signatures from registered Santa Clara County voters to get it onto the statewide primary election ballot on June 5, 2018.
Those who have worked with Persky in Santa Clara legal circles say that the attacks on his judgment are shocking, and they have described him as an intelligent jurist who knows the law and carefully applies it.
Sajid A. Khan, a public defender in San Jose, said he is disappointed the recall effort is ongoing, calling it shortsighted: “It sends the message that we want judges to be harsh and punitive in their sentencing rather than merciful and compassionate.”
The petition makes no mention of sentencing guidelines, instead saying Persky (himself a former Stanford athlete) “has a long history of awarding lenient sentences to athletes and upper-class defendants for sex crimes and violence against women.”
The obvious incentive for judges seeing what’s happening to Persky, as Khan has said, is to brutalize defendants who are not white, not wealthy and not well represented by counsel, so they can avoid the racist and classist pitchforks taken up by vindictive vigilantes like Michele Dauber.
They are going to send more men of color and indigent defendants into brutal conditions because of their vengeance against a well-respected judge who was following sentencing guidelines.
Persky was already investigated and cleared by a state agency that has the power to discipline judges, saying there was no “clear evidence” he favored Turner in sentencing, according to the Post.
Dauber’s signature is the third on the petition.
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