Stanford rapist Brock Turner’s recent release from prison after serving 3 months of a 6-sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman has been the catalyst for outrage across the Internet, and now some of that outrage is manifesting itself in the form of armed protesters showing up at the former star swimmer’s Dayton, Ohio home.
The protesters are utilizing Ohio’s open carry laws to intimidate Turner into staying out of town. According to Distractify, the protesters were a constant presence throughout this past weekend.
Reports say that some of the neighborhood seemed to side with the protesters, with one woman saying that the reason she moved into the neighborhood in the first place was because of the lack of sex offenders who lived in the area. Now, thanks to Turner’s homecoming, that won’t be the case.
“He’s just not welcome,” neighbor Molly Hardin said.
“He’s not gonna live some happy, pleasant life,” a protester told WHIO. “We’re going to never let him forget what he did.”
“If he is uncomfortable, then he begins to receive at least some punishment that he deserves for his crime,” another protester said.
Other (unarmed) protests were organized outside the jail that Turner was released from this Friday.
brock turner has the best neighbors pic.twitter.com/kECzPMagWh
— antonio (@antoniodelotero) September 4, 2016
Open carry protesters at the house of Brock Turner in Sugarcreek Township. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/QpsqOQCPC2
— Jay Warren (@JayWarrenWCPO) September 2, 2016
#BrockTurner may have gotten a light sentence but the neighbors not making it easy for him to live outside of jail pic.twitter.com/k4DXAF7AY2
— coke (@wildd_child) September 3, 2016
“With collegiate athletes, the judge seems to have a blind spot, and doesn’t see these felonies as serious crimes against women,” Stanford law professor and protest organizer Michele Dauber said, referring to Judge Aaron Persky who handed down Turner’s light sentence.
In March, Turner was found guilty by a unanimous jury on three counts of sexual assault: intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object.
Persky sentenced Turner to six months behind bars, saying that prison would have a “severe impact” the star swimmer and his future.
