Attorney for convicted rapist Brock Turner has appealed the former Stanford swimmer’s assault conviction, arguing that his client was fully clothed and only wanted “outercourse,” not intercourse, with the victim.
During an appellate court hearing on Tuesday in San Jose, California, Attorney Eric Multhaup argued that his client only wanted “outercourse,” or sexual contact while fully dressed, The Mercury News reported. Multhaup argued that Turner never intended to the woman, who was identified as “Jane Doe” throughout the trial.
In his 15-minute argument before the three-judge panel, Multhaup explained that Turner had his clothes on when he was caught on top of the victim by the two Swedish grad students outside of a fraternity party at Stanford on January 10, 2015. According to ABC News, the attorney argued that since Turner was fully clothed when he was confronted by the grad students, the prosecution’s case fell short of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the former Stanford student intended to rape the woman.
Courtesy Ohio Attorney Generals Office/Handout via Reuters
“They filled in the blanks in the prosecution’s case,” Multhaup contended. “That’s imagination. That’s speculation.”
Mercury News reported that the panel of justices “appeared skeptical of [Multhaup’s] argument.”
“I absolutely don’t understand what you are talking about. … We are not in a position to say [of the jury], you should have gone a different way,” Justice Franklin D. Elia said.
Assistant Attorney General Alisha Carlile said that Multhaup presented a “far-fetched version of events.”
Turner’s case made national news in 2016, with a high-profile sexual assault case and a powerful victim impact statement from Jane Doe.
Turner was sentenced to only six months in jail in June 2016, but was released after only serving three months, The Huffington Post reports. Following his release, Turner returned to his hometown of Oakwood, Ohio, where he registered as a sex offender.
Trial Judge Aaron Persky’s sentence of only six months, after prosecutors had asked for a six-month prison sentence, drew outrage and lead to a recall campaign. Persky was recalled by Santa Clara County voters in the June California primary election and was removed from the bench, ABC News reports.
The appellate court is expected to make its decision on Turner’s appeal within 90 days.