Ex-Stanford swimmer Brock Turner won't get a new trial for his rape conviction

The sexual assault survivor "Emily Doe" wrote an inspiring essay for Glamour.
(Image credit: Gabrielle Lurie/AFP/Getty Images)

Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer who infamously served three months in jail for the assault and attempted rape of an unconscious 22-year-old woman, will not get a new trial, a California appellate court panel ruled Wednesday. Turner's lawyers argued that the evidence presented at his 2016 trial did not support his convictions for sexually assaulting an intoxicated victim, sexually assaulting an unconscious victim, and attempted rape. But Judge Franklin Elia, writing for a three-judge panel of the 6th District Court of Appeal in San Jose, said there was "substantial evidence" for his conviction on all three charges.

The case gained national notoriety when the victim published the statement she read in court. The judge who sentenced Turner, Aaron Persky, was recalled in a public vote in June — the appellate judges did not discuss Persky's arguably lenient sentence. Turner, who lives with his parents in Ohio and must register as a sex offender, can still appeal his case to the California Supreme Court.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.