USA Swimming Bans Stanford Rapist Brock Turner for Life
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Following the lenient punishment a Stanford swimming student received after being convicted of rape, the U.S. governing body for the sport has banned him for life.
Brock Turner was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault in March for the January 2015 rape of an unconscious woman. The judge overseeing the case sentenced Turner to just six months in county jail instead of the six years prosecutors had sought, a sentence that has drawn national outrage.
But on Friday, USA Swimming condemned Turner and his actions and said he would be ineligible for membership, meaning the one-time Olympic hopeful will never be able to compete at that level.
“Brock Turner’s membership with USA Swimming expired at the end of the calendar year 2014 and he was not a member at the time of his crime or since then,” said USA Swimming spokesman Scott Leightman, according to CNN. “As a result, USA Swimming doesn’t have any jurisdiction over Brock Turner.”
The statement continued:
“Had he been a member, he would have been subject to the USA Swimming Code of Conduct.
“USA Swimming strictly prohibits and has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, with firm Code of Conduct policies in place, and severe penalties, including a permanent ban of membership, for those who violate the Code of Conduct.”
Turner, 20, was found guilty of the intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person, according to reports.
But if you thought the six month punishment was not enough, it was revealed on Thursday that Turner may end up serving just three months of that term.
Judge Aaron Persky is also under intense scrutiny for his sentence and several petitions have been circulating demanding he be removed from the bench. A Change.org petition has received over one million signatures.
