Dan Turner is father of Brock Turner, Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault.

Letter

In June 2016, Dan wrote a letter opposing his son's jail sentence. In the letter, he wrote that his son only got "20 minutes of action". Dan Turner also read the letter out loud in Judge Aaron Persky's courtroom.

Dan Turner believed that his son should have only received probation even though Brock received a sentence of only 6 months in jail when he was facing a maximum of 14 years in prison. ^[1]

Backlash

Dan Turner's letter enraged many activists and journalists because of its flippant attitude towards rape and his lack of sympathy towards the victim.

Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, criticized the letter for reducing a brutal sexual assault to “20 minutes of action.”

He also criticized Brock Turner and Dan Turner for refusing to own up to the rape.

Dan Turner responded to criticism of his letter in with the following statement:

“My words have been misinterpreted by people,” he said in a statement to The Huffington Post, submitted through his son’s defense attorney. “What I meant with that comment is a 20 minute period of time. I was not referring to sexual activity by the word ‘action.’ It was an unfortunate choice of words and I did not mean to be disrespectful or offensive to anyone.”