The judge in the Brock Turner rape case just defended his light sentencing

The Judge, Aaron Persky, in the Stanford University rape case just defended giving Brock Turner a six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus.

Because he had no previous disciplinary record, on September 2, 2016, Turner was released from Santa Clara County jail in San Jose after just three months.

Persky received backlash almost immediately after doling out the sentence, but he’s only just commented on it a year later.

“As a judge it is my role to consider both sides,” he said in a statement he released. “It’s not always popular, but it’s the law and I took an oath to follow it without regard to public opinion or my opinions as a former prosecutor.”

He also said also he “fought vigorously for victims” as an attorney.

His opponent, Michele Dauber, released her own statement, requesting a “judge who will protect and serve victims — not rapists” while attacking his “lenient sentences to athletes and upper-class defendants.”

The length of Turner’s sentence remains wildly controversial, with comments such as “The Kanye West/Kim K/Taylor Swift feud and Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift lasted for longer than this.”

I’ve had moldy lemons in my fridge for longer than three months.

@carolinephinney