In a Wednesday interview with CNN‘s Brooke Baldwin, Brian Banks — who was wrongly accused of rape in 2002 — speaks out about Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, who was found guilty of the same act but faces a lesser punishment.
Atlanta Black Star reported that Turner, who is white, was sentenced to only six months of jail time for raping an “unconscious, inebriated” female student in a 2015 incident.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced the young man to the short prison term because he did not want to harshly punish Turner. Persky feared that prison time would have a “severe impact” on the athlete.
Banks told Baldwin that he was disgusted by the slap on the wrist.
“The judge in this case totally mishandled the situation,” Banks says. “Something has to be done about this and my heart goes out to the victim.”
Banks points out the racial and economic privilege at play in the case.
“The sad thing about this is that Brock was sentenced based on his lifestyle. Because of that, the conclusion was that prison would have a negative impact on him. But what about the children that have no choice about where they are born and who they are born to … When that kid stands in front of that judge, they see all the negative.”
