Brock Turner has arrived at the Greene County Sheriff’s Office to register as a sex offender.
Turner was released last week after serving three months of a six month sentence after he was convicted in a sexual assault in California.
He was accused of assaulting an unconscious woman near a Dumpster after the two had become drunk at a fraternity party. The woman had passed out and Turner was on top of her when to graduate students spotted him. They held him until police arrived, the Associated Press reported.
Turner was found guilty on three felony sexual assault counts. His clean criminal record and other considerations allowed Judge Aaron Persky, in the judge's opinion, to deviate from the minimum sentence of two years in prison. Instead he was sentenced to six months, but got out in three for good behavior while in jail.
He had five days to register as a Tier III sex offender once he arrived in Ohio. After the registration, the sheriff's department will send postcards to Turner's neighbors alerting them that he is living nearby.
His release and subsequent relocation has been the subject of protests both in California and in Ohio.
In California last Friday, Rep. Loretta Sanchez said, "Today, Brock Turner is a free man. A judge ignored the horror of the crime. He ignored the voice of the victim – such an eloquent voice. And he ignored the moral and legal duty to impose a just punishment," WHIO reported.
“Ninety days in jail for rape is not justice. Six months is not justice,” Sanchez told people in the crowd. “To the courageous survivor: Your message not only touched our hearts, but it is a clarion call for action. We want you to know you are not alone. We are with you and we are going to see this through to see justice is done.”
Protestors also set up picket lines in front of Turner's family's home in Sugarcreek Township, Ohio Friday night.
Some of them were carrying weapons.
A newspaper sat unopened on the driveway as about a dozen protesters and roughly twice as many reporters stood at the neck of the cul de sac. A Cincinnati news chopper circled overhead as a neighbor mowed his lawn.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said another neighbor as he looked skyward.
About a block away, neighbors chatted with Sugarcreek Twp. Police Chief Michael Brown, who declined comment, as a police sergeant watched the armed protesters through binoculars.
Still another neighbor walked up to a front porch carrying a case of Miller Light.
Some protesters who commented asked that their names not be used.
“The reason we decided to bring the kids is to teach them, at a young age, that 20 minutes of wrongdoing to someone…that can ruin your life forever ,” said one mother who brought her children.
She said she is “furious” that she has Turner and his family as neighbors. “They feel like a cancer to us and we need to get them out of here.”
One of the male protesters said he fears that Turner would repeat offense because of the lax sentence he was given in the Stanford case.
After the protesters left the neighborhood, members of the Sugarcreek Twp. Fire Department used fire hoses to clean chalk-written messages off the sidewalk, driveway and the street in front of the Brock Turner residence in Sugarcreek Twp.
The words that were scrawled included “rapist” and the following: “Its [sic] your job to hold your son/self responsible so he/you don’t hurt my daughters.”
Only reporters, police officers and firefighters remained in the neighborhood after the protests.
About the Author
