With less than four weeks until the June 5 primary election, when Santa Clara County voters will decide whether Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky will continue serving on the bench, the Palo Alto Weekly is publishing opinion columns for and against the issue.
Persky has been under scrutiny since his June 2016 sentencing of former Stanford University student and swimmer Brock Turner to six months in county jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious and intoxicated woman outside a campus fraternity house in January 2015.
The effort to recall Persky was launched by Stanford Law School Professor Michele Dauber. Recall organizers collected nearly 100,000 signatures to qualify the recall petition for the ballot.
Organizers have asserted Persky has a pattern of bias toward white, privileged and male college athletes in cases involving violence against women. Persky's supporters have argued that the judge displays no such bias.
Persky launched his own campaign, "Retain Judge Persky--No Recall," in 2016 but has stayed out of the public eye while his supporters have spoken on his behalf.
With the recall election approaching, Persky this week held a press conference in Palo Alto at which he argued that if the recall succeeds, it will threaten judicial independence.
Click the links below to read the guest opinion columns:
• Guest Opinion: Judge Persky should be recalled
• Guest Opinion: We need reform, not a recall
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