Robert (Bob) Bianchi, Esq., appeared on Fox News Happening now with host Laura Ingle and guest Wendy Patrick to discuss the Brock Turner college rape case.  Turner was convicted of raping a student behind a trash dumpster while she was unconscious.  2 brave male students stopped the rape in progress.  After a trial, a jury convicted Turner of rape and he faced a 10-year state prison sentence.

In an utterly controversial sentencing, the judge only gave him 6 months in the county jail, for which he was released only after spending 3 months behind bars for “good behavior.” The judge’s ruling has sparked a national outcry and for the judge’s  removal from office.

Rape on college campuses is at epidemic proportions.  It is a violent crime and should be treated as such.  The judge’s ruling, and his reasons for such a light sentence, to me bespoke of “code words” that many argue shows significant bias in favor of white, privileged defendants in the criminal justice system.  After 28 years as a NJ prosecutor and NJ criminal defense attorney I can state without question there is a disparity in sentencing between the races.  Unfortunately, the real problem in this regard is steeped in undisciplined rhetoric, name calling, and not looking at the real factors at play, making progress for this issues almost impossible.

Regardless, in this particular case, there is a victim who has been significantly physically and emotionally harmed.  The need to deter this conduct is without question. To me, this victim has to be victimized 4 times in all of this.  1.  The rape itself; 2. Having to go to trial and allow the world to see the most humiliating moments of her life; 3.  A judge’s sentence that made the violent crime of rape a joke, marginalized her trauma, and a sentence that does nothing to deter this conduct by others in the future, but may very well encourage it; 4. A light sentence that is exasperated by an early parole for alleged “good behavior” after spending only 3 months in jail for a brutal rape.

Watch the video and let me know your thoughts.