Brock Turner Was Released From Jail

Ugh. Early Friday morning, in a CNN video that's disturbing to watch, Brock Turner was released from jail after a staggeringly short three months served for felony sexual assault. He was released just after 6 a.m. local time, and will return to Ohio, where his family lives. I won't embed the clip in in this post, but if you want to watch the video, you can see it here.

Turner was sentenced to six months behind bars by Judge Aaron Persky, who has since recused himself from presiding over criminal trials. Shortly after Turner was sentenced in California — a ruling that sparked distaste from the community and supporters of sexual assault survivors across the country — the woman he assaulted bravely published her statement to Turner on BuzzFeed. The letter, which described the assault and its effects on her in meticulous, painful detail, was read millions of times, and prompted even more backlash against Turner and Persky.

Many observers have described the sentence handed to Turner as little more than a slap on the wrist — for committing a sexual assault so profoundly disturbing that, according to the survivor's statement, the Swedish men who witnessed it and apprehended Turner could barely speak to authorities through sobs.

In the video of Turner being released from jail, assembled reporters and photographers are waiting in the darkness for the felon to leave jail. Turner says nothing to the crowds, but keeps his head low and gets into a waiting car. He'll now go straight home to the Dayton, Ohio, area.

Turner was released after three months due to overcrowding, according to TMZ.

You can read the letter the woman Brock Turner assaulted wrote to him, and read out to him in court, here.