Ex–Stanford Student Brock Turner Blames 'Party Culture' for Sexual Assault
— -- Brock Turner, the former Stanford University swimmer who was convicted last week of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus, blamed the “party culture” of “college life” for his actions.
ABC News obtained a copy of Turner’s full statement to Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced the 20-year-old to six months in county jail and three years of probation. Turner plans to appeal his conviction.
Turner acknowledged that he is the “sole proprietor of what happened that night” in January 2015 but maintained his version of the events, saying the unidentified victim willingly interacted with him outside a fraternity house. He even said the woman appeared to be enjoying herself.
“At no time did it ever occur to me or did it ever seem that [redacted] was too drunk to know what we were doing. I would not have done anything against anyone’s will,” he said in the statement. “I swear I never would have done any of this if [redacted] wasn’t willing.”
Turner also pointed a finger at the “partying and drinking” atmosphere and the peer pressure that comes with it.
“There isn’t a second that has gone by where I haven’t regretted the course of events I took on January 17th/18th. My shell and core of who I am as a person is forever broken from this. I am a changed person. At this point in my life, I never want to have a drop of alcohol again. I never want to attend a social gathering that involves alcohol or any situation where people make decisions based on the substances they have consumed. I never want to experience being in a position where it will have a negative impact on my life or someone else’s ever again,” Turner said in the statement.
“I want to take what I can from who I was before this situation happened and use it to the best of my abilities moving forward. I know I can show people who were like me the dangers of assuming what college life can be like without thinking about the consequences one would potentially have to make if one were to make the same decisions that I made. I want to show that people’s lives can be destroyed by drinking and making poor decisions while doing so. One needs to recognize the influence that peer pressure and the attitude of having to fit in can have on someone. One decision has the potential to change your entire life. I know I can impact and change people’s attitudes towards the culture surrounded by binge drinking and sexual promiscuity that protrudes through what people think is at the core of being a college student. I want to demolish the assumption that drinking and partying are what make up a college lifestyle. I made a mistake, I drank too much, and my decisions hurt someone. But I never ever meant to intentionally hurt [redacted]. My poor decision-making and excessive drinking hurt someone that night, and I wish I could just take it all back.”
The victim, now 23, responded to Turner’s statement in an emotional letter she read in court, slamming Turner for his hollow apology.
“If you are hoping that one of my organs will implode from anger and I will die, I’m almost there. You are very close,” her letter reads in part. “This is not a story of another drunk college hook-up with poor decision-making. Assault is not an accident. Somehow, you still don’t get it. Somehow, you still sound confused.”
