The sexual assault trial involving former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner continued this week, with Turner himself testifying and saying the woman accusing him of the assault was conscious and consented to sexual contact.
The Contra Costa Times reports that Turner took the witness stand on Wednesday, recounting his side of the January 2015 incident.
The 20-year-old Turner said the woman, then 22, danced with him and kissed him at the fraternity party near where the incident took place. Based on the woman’s testimony earlier this week, she was at the party with her younger sister and some friends. One friend testified earlier this week as well, noting that she and the sister left the party while the alleged victim stayed behind.
Turner said that he asked the woman if she would like to return to his dorm with him, and that she said “yes.” The two were walking outside, Turner said, when she slipped and fell, then started kissing on the ground.
According to the Contra Costa Times piece, Turner testified that the woman said “yes” when he asked if he could touch her genitals, and that the woman was conscious during the incident.
Turner says he started to feel sick from the drinks he’d consumed – seven beers and two sips of whiskey – and stumbled away from the girl to vomit. That was when cyclist Peter Jonsson arrived. Jonsson had already testified that he and another cyclist came across Turner and the woman and confronted Turner upon seeing that the girl was unconscious.
The Contra Costa Times piece describes the scene this way, per Turner’s testimony:
Turner told the jury of four women and eight men that he didn’t understand their concern. But when one of the men tried to put him in a headlock to subdue him, “that made me really scared.”
“I decided to run,” Turner said, but one of the men tackled him. “I started screaming for help.”
Turner said he recalled the man asking, “Do you think this is OK?”
“I had no idea what he was talking about,” Turner testified. “It just seemed like he hated me or something.”
Turner said the woman was awake and conscious the whole time, and when his lawyer asked him if he intended to rape her, he replied: “Absolutely not.”
The woman’s attorney responded, calling attention to the woman’s high blood alcohol content at the time (more than three times the legal limit) and an incoherent voicemail message she had left on her boyfriend’s phone shortly before the incident happened at 1 a.m.
The Daily Democrat reported on a different witness, a psychology professor at the University of Texas named Kim Fromme, who supported Turner’s case but whose credibility was also called into question by the prosecution.
Fromme testified that a drunk person can appear normal while experiencing a blackout, or a period in which “the person is fully conscious and capable of making short-term decisions such as driving a car or having sex… but incapable of storing long-term memories.” That testimony came after the woman had no memories of the incident itself, only the party before it and the morning after.
But the prosecution brought up several emails Fromme had sent to Turner’s lawyer. Per The Daily Democrat:
Fromme described herself as an unbiased expert. But Kiancerci introduced several emails Fromme had written to Armstrong that caused some of the four women and eight men on the jury to stop taking notes and lean back. One of the emails exulted in the acquittal of a Seattle man who had confessed to rape and expressed hope for a similar outcome for “our client.” Another wondered if it was a good idea to turn over communications between herself and Armstrong, which is required under California discovery laws. Doing so, the email said, would be “akin to showing our entire poker hand prior to making a bet.”
The trial continues this week, with closing arguments anticipated next Monday, according to The Contra Costa Times.
The real story here….that should be talked about widely, is the excessive use of alcohol by college students today, and its unintended consequences. College students today (even swimmers) are routinely binge drinking using liquor to get drunk as quickly as possible, and to excess. When you are that drunk, male or female, you do stupid things–and at times, illegal things. Both lives are ruined in this example, as well as those of the families. This is an epidemic on college campuses. This is not the “have a few beers” at the frat party kind of partying done routinely in our generation.
First off, we have no idea how old you are, so citing “our generation” is unhelpful. While I agree that binge drinking on college campuses is a problem, it isn’t something new. Animal House came out in 1978 and I’m willing to bet binge drinking and other debauchery was going on long before that. Also, if you want to go back to the Woodstock era, there may not have been as much binge drinking, but there was significant drug use. Enough with the “kids these days” line. Women who have been sexually assaulted while intoxicated are being encouraged to come forward now, when in the past they were not, so there seems to be in influx in cases when really… Read more »
I agree with DMswim in that I don’t think that college swimmers today are any worse than what they were before. However, there’s no denying that alcohol played a huge role in this and kids should be aware that the rules of the game have changed and the consequences of this behavior is what’s different from before. As a side note, I don’t understand why Turner was drinking so heavily at a party in the middle of January and so close to the end of the season. That is a sign of really poor judgement, never mind the sexual assault that he is being accused of.
I agree 100%. If Brock hadn’t been drinking, he may not have made the poor decision he made. I didn’t realize the timing on it before you mentioned it. While I am a few years out of college, we always had a “dry season” starting January 1st (or sometimes earlier), even if you were 21. From talking with friends on other teams, some sort of dry season seemed to be common. I’m surprised Stanford didn’t have a similar policy.
No. The “real story” is RAPE.
That Facebook site is disgusting. If Turner is behind it I hope the prosecutor uses it during cross examination. I’d love to know who created the site.
Some people in some countries e.g. Britain can get arrested for posting something on Facebook.You don’t want to go there do you?
I have contributed to several GOFUNDMEs etc in support of people accused of crimes . I only knew of these through sites (not Facebook which I am not a member ) so you can’t block off this information angle.
You can be unlucky like the young lady shot dead on the pier by the illegal criminal whom the local sheriff shielded from ICE detention. What is worse he used a Federal Agent’s gun (a double betrayal by authorities. ) . There is no reason to blindly believe a police dept unfortunately .
I hope the… Read more »
it will be interesting to see how the law comes down on this one. I am guessing he won’t do hard time as the judge is unlikely to consider him a threat to society (it is not as if he is a serial rapist or child molester) and the California prison system is overcrowded with even worse scumbags without good attorneys. His reputation will be ruined for life either way and I can’t see how he bounces back from this. I feel sorry for his hapless victim and that she has to go thru the ordeal of this trial.
This case has almost nothing to do with swimming. I think it should be removed or just reported upon one time at its completion…we dont need blow by blow descriptions of what happened.
https://www.facebook.com/Brockturnerfor2026lympics/#~!/Brockturnerfor2026lympics/
Just reading the posts on that Facebook page turned my stomach. ugh
That site was odious. I wish I hadn’t clicked the link.
OMG! This kid needs to take down his facebook page immediately!! And whoever wrote that 150K is not a lot of money needs to take down theirs!! I am utterly disgusted! I have been following this case with an open mind but now I am disgusted that this has turned so ugly in the media, take it all down and let the facts tell the story and let the judge/jury decide excluding the snotty comments from pro and con. I agree that this is a subject that does not need to be judged in the media…..did we not learn anything from OJ Simsons? I still believe in the justice system and it is NOT HERE! Everybody sit down and let… Read more »
I do not know what happened. I have not heard any testimony or read anything else about this incident other than this single article. But there is a puzzling claim made here. “… the woman said ‘yes’ when he asked if he could touch her genitals …”. Really? I don’t like to kiss and tell, but I’ve been in similar situations. Maybe I’m evil myself, but I don’t recall ever asking such a sterile and unromantic question. The common theme for me typically might be to whisper “is this okay?” while initiating some sort of advance. In some cases my continued advances would be based on physical response and not a ‘question-answer’ conversation. Just based on my own personal experience… Read more »
Exactly.
It was paraphrased, not a direct quote. My guess is they paraphrased to avoid having something sexually explicit on here.
Just because you don’t ask a sterile question does not mean others do. And by your own admission, you have commited rape based on the definition of an assertive yes.
You have just confessed to rape sir.
The cyclist’s testimony and the emails between Turner’s expert witness and counsel is pretty much all I need.
And Judge & Jury Steve -what is your prescribed punishment? Don’t leave us hanging .
Send him back to Stanford
I’ve got no idea. Don’t even know what the charges are, let alone what the usual penalties are. It’s just pretty hard to assume this kid’s just getting railroaded by some random passers-by. And then adding that witness, like, come on.
That said…hanging, probably.