CALIFORNIA
CBS NEWS
May 29, 2018
Aaron Persky is speaking out one week before voters decide if he should be removed over his handling of a sexual assault trial. The California judge gave former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner a short jail term after Turner was found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The sentence generated global outrage and raised questions about judicial independence and politics in the courtroom.
Persky has remained largely silent as the campaign to remove him from the bench has built over nearly two years. But now, in his only television interview, he defended the sentence that has been so widely condemned.
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