A California judge’s decision to give former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman has caused a national uproar.
Now, court documents obtained by CNN’s “Legal View” team shed new light on the disturbing assault and Turner’s apparent history of alcohol abuse and sexually aggressive behavior.
Here are key points from presentencing documents that give insight into a case that grabbed national attention:
The assault
Just after 1 a.m. on January 18, 2015, law enforcement officers responded to a report of an unconscious female in a field near the Kappa Alpha fraternity house, according to a sentencing memo.
They found the victim on the ground, in a fetal position, behind a garbage dumpster. She was breathing but unresponsive. Her dress was pulled up to her waist. Her underwear was on the ground; her hair disheveled and covered with pine needles.
About 25 yards away, two men, passers-by, had pinned down and restrained a young man who was later identified as Turner.
“We found him on top of the girl!” one of the men said. Turner smelled of alcohol as he was handcuffed.
One of the men later told authorities that Turner had been on top of the motionless woman.
“Hey, she’s f—— unconscious!” one of the men yelled. Turner managed to get away briefly but the man tripped and later tackled him. Turner was held down until deputies arrived.
According to the probation document, Turner told deputies that he walked away from the frat house with the victim and they kissed.
They ended up on the ground, where he removed the victim’s underwear and he digitally penetrated her for about five minutes, Turner told deputies. “He denied taking his pants off and said his penis was never exposed.”
Victim was completely unresponsive
When law enforcement arrived, one of the deputies, in a loud voice, asked the victim several times, “Can you hear me?”
There was no response. Paramedics tried a “shake and shout” technique and applied a physical pain stimulant. Still no response. She vomited once but didn’t regain consciousness.
In an ambulance later, a deputy tried to wake her repeatedly, without success. There was still no response after an EMT stuck an IV needle in the young woman’s arm.
The victim finally regained consciousness about 4:15 a.m. at a hospital. Later that morning, doctors said her blood alcohol concentration was 0.12% — and estimated her intoxication level at the time of the assault to be 0.22%.
Aggressive sexual behavior
The sentencing memo said that the victim’s sister was “caught completely off guard” when Turner tried to kiss her the night of the assault. She alerted a friend after Turner grabbed her waist and later picked him out of a lineup as the “aggressive” man at the party.
After being twice rejected by her sister, Turner went after the victim when she was “alone and inebriated.”
Turner took the victim to a dimly lit, isolated area and sexually assaulted her behind a dumpster.
“This behavior is not typical assaultive behavior that you find on campus, but it is more akin to a predator who is searching for prey,” the prosecutor wrote.