Ex-Stanford Student Charged In Campus Assault Denies Raping Unconscious Woman
PALO ALTO (CBS SF) -- A former Stanford University student charged Wednesday with raping a drunk and unconscious woman at an on-campus fraternity party Jan. 18 admitted to sexually fondling her after consuming nine alcoholic drinks but denied raping her, according to a report from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
Brock Allen Turner, 19, charged Wednesday in Superior Court in Palo Alto with five felony counts of sexual assault, said he met the woman that night at a party at the Kappa Alpha House at 664 Lomita Court, and they ended up kissing while on the ground outside the house, according to a statement he gave to deputies assigned to the Stanford campus.
Turner said he took off the woman's underwear, digitally penetrated her and touched her breasts, but never took off his pants, the report said.
He said that the woman rubbed his back and seemed to enjoy the activity and his "intentions were not to try and rape the girl without her consent" but to "'hook up' with a girl," the report said.
In her statement, the alleged victim, who is not a Stanford student, said that she had downed four whiskey shots less than two hours before arriving at the Kappa Alpha party late on Jan. 17, and "blacked out" after drinking two shots of vodka and going outside of the house 20 or 30 minutes later with her sister.
The report, with statements by Turner, the alleged victim and several witnesses, was prepared by deputies of the Stanford University Department of Public Safety and filed in court Wednesday by the District Attorney's Office with a five-count felony complaint against Turner.
Prosecutors accuse Turner of unlawful sexual intercourse with someone who is prevented from resisting due to intoxication, intercourse with a person unconscious of the nature of the act, assault with the intent to commit rape, sexual penetration of a person who cannot resist due to intoxication and penetration of a person unconscious of the nature of the act, according to the complaint.
If he is convicted, Turner faces a prison sentence of 14 to 30 years based on the range of the charges. He is due to appear in court on the charges in Palo Alto on Monday.
Turner was a freshman at Stanford, a star swimmer from Ohio who was on the men's swim team before he voluntarily withdrew from the university soon after his arrest, university officials said.
Turner could not be reached for comment.
The report, prepared by sheriff's deputies, described an event involving Turner and the victim where both said they consumed large amounts of liquor before the alleged sexual assault at the crowded party at the Kappa Alpha House.
On Jan. 18, at about 1 a.m., Stanford-based sheriff's deputies were called about an unconscious woman in a field area beside the fraternity house and that two good Samaritans had detained a male suspect who had possibly sexually assaulted the woman.
The woman was found lying unconscious and in a fetal position, partially naked, beneath a pine tree and by a dumpster between Kappa Alpha and the Jerry student residence house.
A male then appeared and told campus police that two other males were holding down a man and "they said it was the guy who did that" as he pointed to the unconscious woman.
Two deputies ran over and found two men holding down the suspect by his arms and legs. One of the men said, "we found him on top of the girl," and deputies placed handcuffs on Turner, who smelled of alcohol, to detain him in a patrol car.
The Palo Alto Fire Department arrived and started treating the still-unconscious woman, who deputies determined to be "severely intoxicated" and unable to answer questions. Medical personnel then took her to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.
Peter Lars Jonsson, a Stanford student and one of the two men holding down Turner, told deputies that at about 12:55 a.m. Jan. 18, he and a fellow student were riding bikes near the dumpster by Kappa Alpha and noticed a man on top of a female lying on the ground.
Jonsson said it "definitely" looked like the two were having sex and that the female, whose dress was pulled up, appeared unconscious and not moving, deputies said.
When they went to investigate, Turner saw them, got up slowly off of the woman and began to run away. After checking on the female, who was breathing, Jonsson said he and his friend chased and caught up with Turner after he refused their commands to stop.
The two restrained him after a struggle until deputies got there.
Later, Turner said he drank about seven cans of beer and "a couple swigs" of whiskey but was conscious while engaging in sexual activity with the victim, deputies said.
Meanwhile, the woman remained asleep and could not respond to deputies until later that morning. She told deputies that she had attended the party at the fraternity house with her sister and met a female friend there who had invited them to the party.
She was having a fun time and felt drunk when she poured herself the two vodka shots at about 11:45 p.m. but knew what was going on around her, she said.
At about midnight, she and her sister went to the rear of the house to some bushes near Lake Lagunita, returned to the rear patio area of the Kappa Alpha, and talked to a few guys, some of whom "shot gunned" cans of beer. She then sipped a beer and could not remember anything else until she woke up at the medical center, according to the report.
The woman told deputies she did not remember kissing anyone or walking way from the house with anyone and did not give her consent to sexual activity or touching.
She also said she did not have any noticeable injuries and did not feel any pain from the incident.
Later, after submitting to lab tests, she said she was willing to prosecute the suspect, and deputies booked Turner's clothing and blood samples and audio recordings of both of their statements as evidence.
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