Stanford Rape Judge Pulled From New Sex-Assault Case

Aaron Persky, the judge widely condemned for his lenient ruling in the Stanford rape case, has been abruptly removed from a new sexual-assault case. District Attorney Jeff Rosen says he lost confidence in Persky after he took the unusual step of ending a misdemeanor mail theft case midtrial on Monday, dismissing the case before the jury had a chance to deliberate, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Rosen says that after the puzzling move—and "recent events"—authorities decided they lacked faith in Persky to "fairly participate in this upcoming hearing in which a male nurse sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient."

The case is believed to be the first one Persky had been assigned to since he sentenced Brock Turner to six months in prison, sparking outrage and calls for his recall, reports NBC San Francisco, which notes that Persky automatically won a new six-year term last week because he ran unopposed. Reuters reports that Stacey Capps, chief trial deputy for the DA's office, says the new sexual-assault trial has been assigned to a different judge. The case involves a male nurse accused of touching the vagina and breast of a woman before surgery at a Santa Clara hospital, and Capps says the fact that the victim is "particularly vulnerable" played a role in Persky's removal. (Would-be jurors refused to serve on the jury under Perksy in the stolen mail case.)