Ex-Stanford Swimmer Brock Turner Denied New Trial

An appeals court upholds ex-Stanford swimmer Brock Turner's sex assault conviction

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office via AP

A California appeals court rejected a new trial for former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, upholding his convictions for sexual assault and attempted rape.

The three judges of the 6th District Court of Appeal in San Jose, California, said that Turner received a fair trial in 2016.

The ruling comes a month after Turner's lawyer sought a new trial, arguing that Turner wanted “outercourse” rather than intercourse with the victim.

Turner faced up to 14 years in prison, with prosecutors seeking a six-year sentence after he was charged with five felonies in February 2015, which included rape of an intoxicated person, rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an unconscious woman, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an intoxicated woman and assault with intent to commit rape.

Turner, who must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, was released from jail after serving only three months for good behavior.

A judge who sentenced Turner was recalled from office in June, after sparking outrage when he sentenced Brock Turner to six months in jail and three years supervised probation in 2016 after Turner was convicted.

The victim in the case read a statement during Turner's sentencing, recalling how two bicyclists saw her being attacked by Turner and chased him down.

“Instead of taking time to heal, I was taking time to recall the night in excruciating detail, in order to prepare for the attorney’s questions that would be invasive, aggressive and designed to steer me off course, to contradict myself, my sister, phrased in ways to manipulate my answers,” she wrote. “This was a game of strategy, as if I could be tricked out of my own worth.”