He wasn’t trying to rape her, he was attempting ‘outercourse’, says lawyer for ex-Stanford student Brock Turner
Turner is appealing his conviction for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside of a Stanford fraternity house in 2015, a notorious incident his lawyer called a fully clothed ‘version of safe sex’
A lawyer for Brock Turner, the former Stanford student convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, argued in court during an appeal hearing that his client was seeking “outercourse” with his victim.
The attorney’s appeal of the high-profile case, which led to international outrage after Turner received a lenient sentence in 2016, advanced in a California court this week, with an unusual legal claim that experts said was shocking and hurtful to survivors of sexual violence.
Turner was originally convicted of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman and penetration of an unconscious person after passers-by spotted him thrusting on top of a motionless woman outside of a fraternity house in 2015. But his lawyer Eric Multhaup argued in court Tuesday that his client was not attempting rape, but was seeking “outercourse”, which he said was sexual contact while clothed and a “version of safe sex”, the Mercury News reported.
It’s just breathtaking in its cruelty. It feels like a juvenile, adolescent joke that utterly denies the extent of the injury that was proved at the trial
The language and claims at the hearing, which came a month after voters recalled the judge who gave Turner six months in jail, stunned legal scholars and activists.