PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Santa Clara County judge facing a recall threat for giving a relatively light sentence to former Stanford student Brock Turner has disqualified himself from making his first key decision in another sex case.
In a brief statement filed with the court, Judge Aaron Persky said that while on vacation, he and his family were exposed to publicity surrounding the new case which resulted in “a personal family situation.”
Persky was to decide this week whether to reduce plumber Robert Chain’s felony conviction for possession of child pornography to a misdemeanor, as he indicated he might when he sentenced Chain to four days in county jail last year.
Such reductions are not unheard of, but in Chain’s case, it would have come a year earlier than a probation officer recommended and has been cited by Persky’s critics as an example of his unwarranted leniency toward sex offenders. Most judges impose six-month sentences on defendants in similar cases.
On Thursday, the judge abruptly notified the lawyers in the case who were scheduled to appear in his Palo Alto courtroom on Friday. He announced his recusal and issued a brief written ruling.
“While on vacation earlier this month, my family and I were exposed to publicity surrounding this case,” the ruling said. “This publicity has resulted in a personal family situation such that ‘a person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial.’”
If Persky had granted Chain’s request, the plumber would still have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life for having graphic images on his computer. But his name and photograph would no longer appear on an online list of offenders. According to court records, Chain had 188 images of child pornography on his Samsung tablet depicting girls 5 to 12 years old, and at least one image of an infant.
The issue is now set to be decided by Judge Kenneth P. Barnum in Palo Alto on Oct. 6.
Persky is the target of a recall campaign that started in June after he followed a probation department recommendation and sentenced former Stanford swimmer Turner to six months in county jail for sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman outside a campus frat party.