Courts

Recalled Judge Gets Fired Again

From judge to social media pariah to JV tennis coach to fired.

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Aaron Persky first became a part of our collective consciousness in 2015, as a Santa Clara judge assigned to the Brock Turner case. Turner was the Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault with intent to rape. But despite the conviction and some of the more unsettling facts of the case —- the assault took place behind a dumpster where the victim was unconscious —- Persky sentenced him to an extremely light sentence. As part of the sentencing, the then-judge expressed concern about the impact a more severe penalty would have on Turner’s future.

The six-month sentence (Turner was actually out in three months for good behavior) caused uproar around the country, because, say what you will about the problems with the penal state in America, six months is an extremely light sentence for the crime. Though not much could be done to change Turner’s penalty, voters in California organized a successful campaign, led by Stanford law professor Michele Dauber, to recall Persky from the bench. In 2018, Persky became the first California judge recalled by voters in 80 years.

Earlier this week, it was widely reported that Persky had found himself a new job as the JV girls tennis coach at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, California. As you might imagine, that didn’t sit well with many of the folks who had voted to recall Persky from his role as judge the year before.

After the firestorm — and a Change.org petition — surrounding the hiring of Persky, the school district has reportedly fired him:

“Effective September 11, 2019, Mr. Persky’s employment with the District as the Junior Varsity Girls Tennis coach has ended. We believe this outcome is in the best interest of our students and school community,” Fremont Union High School District said in a statement.

The school district’s communications spokesperson said they were unaware of Persky’s history as judge when they hired him. I guess a Google search isn’t part of their hiring process.

In a statement about his firing, Persky blamed the media attention instead of the district deciding they don’t want a man who plays sexual assault off as a youthful indiscretion teaching students, but YMMV:

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Persky said his firing was “motivated by a desire to protect the players from the potentially intrusive media attention related to my hiring.”

“Although I am disappointed with the District’s decision, it was a privilege to coach the team, if only for a short time,” he said. “I wish all of the players the best in their future academic and athletic endeavors.”

Instead of worrying about the long-term impact of a jail sentence on Brock Turner’s future, perhaps he should have been worrying about his own.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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