Brock Turner’s mugshot. Photo courtesy of WetPaint.
Summary: A friend of the Stanford Rapist allegedly created a Facebook page to raise money for his legal fees.
Public outrage against Stanford Rapist Brock Allen Turner continues online, and his family and friends are inadvertently adding more fuel to the fire. Raw Story reported that a friend of the Turner family created an online fundraiser to help pay for the young rapist’s legal fees.
- To learn more about the Stanford Rapist case, read this article: Former Stanford Swimmer Receives Jail Sentence for Sexual Assault
Brock, 20, made headlines when he was sentenced to six months in county jail for a rape conviction. Prosecutors sought years in prison, but Judge Aaron Persky showed leniency because “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.”
A severe impact on him. The judge’s words appeared to show favoritism to Brock, a young white man who was a swimmer at Stanford University when the sexual assault occurred, and not the victim, a young woman who he violated when she was completely unconscious. This perpetration of rape culture inspired a Change.org petition that sought to remove Judge Persky from his post. However, Persky ran for re-election this year unopposed and won this week. Regardless, almost one million people have signed the petition.
Major components of this story going viral were the leniency for the boy which some say were influenced by his race and affluence, the victim’s heartbreaking statement of how the rape negatively impacted her, and the rapist’s family and friends’ apologetic attitude towards his heinous crime, which was witnessed by two Stanford students who chased him down and called the police.
The fundraiser was set up on Facebook in May presumably by Joni Magnus-Ramsey, a Turner family friend, but it has since been deleted. On the page, she asked for support, trying to gain sympathy for the Turner family as if a tragedy had struck them when in reality their troubles were their son’s own fault.
“As a lifelong friend, mother and person who has watched this family grow, I am reaching out to you on behalf of Dan Turner and Carleen Bradfield Turner,” Joni Magnus-Ramsey wrote on Facebook. “They are dealing with a monumental life-changing and tragic situation with Brock and their expenses continue to mount. As a mother and friend, I would do anything to help my child and save him.”
- Related article: Texas Teen Gets 10 Years for Drunk Driving, Kills 4
A customer service representative from Wright-Patt Credit Union confirmed to the media that Dan Turner had created an account to accept donations for Brock, but the rep did not disclose how much money had been raised.
Dan had already found himself facing the wrath of the public when he published a defense of his son, saying how Brock once enjoyed “snacks” and “steak” before the ordeal but he was now a different person. Dan argued that Brock should not be severely punished for “20 minutes of action,” which gave many on the internet an insight into how Brock became the man he is today.
What do you think about the Turner family accepting money for Brock’s legal fees? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Raw Story