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SATURDAY,4A NATION & WORLD JUNE 11, 2016 | WEST HAWAII TODAY Heat turned up on judge District Attorney to ask appeals court to overturn sentence SAN FRANCISCO — A group of California lawmakers joined women’s rights advocates Friday in urging a California agency to take action against the judge who sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Eleven Democratic state lawmakers asked the Commission on Judicial Performance to investigate and discipline Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky, alleging he may have engaged in misconduct in sentencing Brock Turner, 20, to jail time and three years’ probation. The punishment for the Dayton, Ohio, native ignited intense outcry as too lenient. Persky said in court last week that he followed a recommendation from the county’s probation department and cited Turner’s clean criminal record and the effect the conviction will have on his life. Also Friday, women’s group UltraViolet plans to submit hundreds of thousands of signatures to the agency that investigates complaints of judicial misconduct and disciplines judges in a symbolic effort urging Persky’s removal from the bench. But to recall the judge, organizers would need to collect signatures from 58,634 registered county voters. After a complaint is received by the commission, which meets every six to eight weeks, it will open an investigation within 60 days, agency attorney Victoria Henley said. Prosecutors had argued Turner be sentenced to six years in prison for crimes that could have sent him away for 10 years. But the county’s district attorney has said Persky should not lose his job because of the ruling. The lawmakers also want District Attorney Jeff Rosen to ask an appeals court to overturn the sentence. But prosecutors said this week that they don’t think Persky’s decision can be appealed because it was “authorized by law and was made by applying the correct standards.” The judge’s decision “confirms what women already knew: That rape culture blames us for being vulnerable when crimes are committed against us, but treats the same factors — drinking, in particular — as reasons to be exceedingly lenient with rapists,” Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton said. Online records show Turner is expected to be released from jail after three months. County jail inmates serve 50 percent of their sentences if they keep a clean disciplinary record. Turner is being segregated from the general jail population, which is standard for high-profile inmates who could be targets. Stanford University law professor Michele Dauber launched a campaign to remove Persky from the bench and plans to speak at a rally outside the commission Friday. “His statements during the sentencing show that he does not understand sexual violence. He does not understand violence Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky poses in his office. JASON DOIY/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS against women,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday. “And so we are going to recall him, and we’re going to replace him with someone who does.” Lawyers who have appeared in Persky’s court have called him a fair and respected judge. He has no record of judicial discipline and previously worked as a Santa Clara County prosecutor responsible for keeping sexual predators locked up. Several prospective jurors who opposed Persky’s decision refused to serve on a jury this week in an unrelated case he is handling. They were dismissed from service after coming forward with their complaints. A court spokesman has said Persky is barred from commenting on the case because Turner is appealing his conviction on felony assault and attempted rape charges. Stephanie Pham, a Stanford student who co-founded the Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention, said the sentence stirred anger and frustration on campus. “When the sentencing came out, people lost faith in the legal system,” she said. “Survivors felt alienated and silenced by the fact that someone found guilty is still going to be given a lenient sentence.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Turner IN BRIEF Back in Washington, Clinton, Trump work toward party unity WASHINGTON — The presidential race shifted to the nation’s capital Friday, with Democrats executing a carefully orchestrated plan to unify their party around presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. Her likely general election rival, Donald Trump, continued his months-long effort to win over the Republican base, with events wooing top donors and evangelical voters. With the primary contests all but over, a series of top Democrats formally announced their support for Clinton, headlined by the glowing endorsement of President Barack Obama on Thursday. Within hours, Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined that effort, both backing Clinton and signaling to many of Sanders’ supporters that it’s time to unite around the party’s presumptive nominee. Clinton and Warren met privately for about an hour Friday morning at Clinton’s home in Washington, intensifying speculation that the progressive stalwart may be tapped for the vice presidency. “If you really want to electrify the base you’ve got to get somebody who’s been speaking to the base and is going to turn the base out,” said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of Sanders’ top supporters in Congress. He said he and other progressives would be thrilled if Clinton tapped Warren for her ticket. 1NEW YORK — Weary Republicans are looking for assurances that Donald Trump can maintain the discipline needed to stay on message as he prepares for a bruising general election run-up against Hillary Clinton. Trump’s conciliatory, teleprompter-guided victory speech Tuesday appeared to stave off — at least for the time being — a near-GOP revolt over his racially divisive attacks against the American-born judge of Mexican heritage hearing the case against his now-defunct Trump University. Western-backed forces encircle key town in northern Syria BEIRUT — Kurdish-led fighters completed their encirclement Friday of a key town held by the Islamic State group in northern Syria, part of a Westernbacked offensive that could see a major strategic victory over the militants. The advance on Manbij, near the Turkish border, coincided with a Syrian army offensive supported by Russian airstrikes that brought troops closer to the city of Raqqa, the IS extremists’ de facto capital. Two years after their blitz across the Euphrates River valley, the IS militants are coming under increasing pressure on territory they control in Syria and Iraq, as well as on a stronghold in chaotic Libya. In another battleground of Syria’s civil war, minimal food deliveries finally reached the Damascus suburb of Daraya, which has been besieged and blockaded by government forces for nearly four years, but opposition activists said heavy bombardment held up the aid’s distribution. The surrounding of Manbij by the Syria Democratic Forces followed the capture of dozens of nearby villages and farms near the Turkish border by the predominantly Kurdish group. Gawker files for bankruptcy, to sell itself to Ziff Davis NEW YORK — Gawker Media is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and putting itself up for sale, strained by a jury’s verdict that it must pay $140 million to pro wrestler Hulk Hogan in an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit. The filing by the 14-year-old website follows the revelation in May that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel bankrolled Hogan’s lawsuit as what he called a “deterrent” to Gawker’s no-holds-barred and sometimes gonzo style of journalism. Thiel’s secret role sparked anxiety over the possibility that more wealthy individuals might cow publications by covertly funding lawsuits against them. Gawker says it plans to sell itself to publishing company Ziff Davis, although other bidders could emerge during the bankruptcy court auction. The sale will help it fund its appeal against the Hogan judgment in a Florida state court. By wire sources Foster parents continue fight Rusty Page carries, Lexi, while Summer Page, in the background, cries as members of family services, left, arrive to take Lexi away from her foster family in Santa Clarita, Calif. DAVID CRANE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Because Lexiis 1/64th Choctaw, she was taken from home and placed with distant relatives LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rusty and Summer Page say they miss tucking their foster child into bed and giving her kisses months after the part- Native American girl was wrenched from their care. On Friday, the couple continued their legal battle to return 6-year-old Lexi to California. Lexi, who is 1/64th Choctaw, was taken from her foster home north of Los Angeles earlier this year and placed with distant relatives in Utah under a decadesold federal law designed to keep Native American families together. An attorney for the Pages asked a state appeals court to reverse a lower court ruling that ordered the family to surrender the girl. The lower court made “fundamental legal errors” and failed to take into account the girl’s bond with her foster parents and siblings, said attorney Lori Alvino McGill. A representative for Lexi didn’t deny the close relationship, but argued it was the right decision to reconnect Lexi with her tribal roots. “She’s doing well. She’s adjusting,” attorney Christopher Blake told a three-judge panel, which has up to 60 days to decide. The appellate court also heard from a lawyer for Lexi’s biological father, who asked the judges to take his point of view into “ “ consideration. Two of the judges balked. “His conduct is reprehensible,” said presiding Justice Paul Turner, adding that Lexi’s father made “bad choices” by not caring for her. The mother of the Utah family that Lexi is living with declined to comment Friday, saying she’s bound by court orders not to discuss the case. The Associated Press isn’t naming the woman to protect the girl’s identity. The case is one of dozens brought by foster families since the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in the late 1970s. Lawmakers found that Native American families were broken up at disproportionately high rates, and that cultural ignorance and biases within the child welfare system were largely to blame. Lexi was 17 months old when she was removed from the custody of her mother, who had drugabuse problems. Her father has a criminal history, according to court records. Although foster care is supposed to be temporary, the Pages want to adopt Lexi and for years have fought efforts under the federal act to place the girl with relatives of her father, who is part Choctaw. The Pages have said the law is outdated and misapplied. Lower courts found the Pages had not proven Lexi would suffer emotional harm by the transfer and, in March, the California Supreme Court refused to intervene. The Choctaw Nation has said the girl had longtime contact with her Utah relatives, who spoke to her online and frequently drove out to see her. While some other tribes use a blood quantum to determine eligibility, the Choctaw Nation is among a handful of tribes that determines eligibility for membership by tracing a person’s lineage to a member of an original roll of tribal members. Lexi is now living in Utah with relatives of her father who are not Native Americans. Dozens of supporters turned out for the latest court hearing, waving banners that read: “Let Lexi Speak” and “Bring Lexi Home.” The Pages said they have not heard from Lexi in nearly three months in what they described as “81 days of both torment and hope.” The family is hopeful the judges “will look at the facts and decide to bring Lexi home once and for all to her family, home to where she wants to be,” Rusty Page told reporters after the hearing. BY ALICIA CHANG THE ASSOCIATED PRESS His conduct is reprehensible. JUSTICE PAUL TURNER | ABOUT THE GIRL’S BIOLOGICAL FATHER See commentary PAGE 5


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