Judge Aaron Persky is being hammered by critics once again for handing down what they say is a lenient sentence for a crime of violence against women.
ABC 7 News in San Francisco reports that Persky's critics are slamming the judge for handing down a 60-day jail sentence to Keenan Smith, a sophomore football player at the College of San Mateo who entered into a plea deal in 2015 to settle charges of domestic violence committed against his girlfriend.
"Court records indicate that Judge Persky worked out a plea deal for him to attend domestic violence prevention classes for a year and perform 28 days of community service," ABC 7 News reports. "That's after serving 32 days in jail, however; Smith has not been complying."
So far, Smith has served only 28 days of his sentence, and he's continuing to play football at the school.
Judge Persky first drew public scorn when he gave convicted Stanford rapist Brock Turner a sentence of just six months after he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman on campus. A petition to remove Persky from the bench attracted well over 100,000 signatures this past summer, and he is no longer overseeing criminal cases.
Nonetheless, Stanford law professor Michelle Dauber has been leading the charge to get Persky removed from the bench entirely, and she says that Persky's sentencing for Smith is yet another example of how he doesn't hold men accountable when they commit violence against women.
"The judge had many, many opportunities to hold this young man accountable and to make sure he serves his sentence," Dauber told ABC 7 News.
