About 35 people gathered as the campaign filed a notice of intent to recall Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky with the county registrar of voters, some holding signs with slogans such as “Soon to be unemployed. Related Articles Brock Turner assault case: Recall target Judge Persky lands major endorsement 
 
 Recall leader outraises judge targeted over Brock Turner sentence 
 
 Judicial commission backs Judge Persky in Brock Turner sentence If the statement is approved by the county registrar of voters, it will appear — along with a response by Persky — on petitions that proponents plan to begin circulating in August. Recall proponents must collect 58,634 valid voter signatures within a 160-day period ending in January to qualify the measure for the June 2018 countywide ballot. But a key supporter, District Attorney Jeff Rosen, noted Monday that the case has already had a significant impact, including his successful effort to get a state law passed requiring a prison term for sexual assault of an unconscious or intoxicated person. “Thanks to Judge Persky, Turner was released after only three months in county jail.” 
 
 Several dozen community leaders are part of the campaign, including politicians, academics and women’s rights activists. According to the statement signed by 50 elected officials, Stanford professors and leaders of women’s rights groups, including San Jose Vice Mayor Magdelena Carrasco, “Santa Clara County residents deserve a judge who will protect victims — not rapists,” the statement says. It also claims that Persky, “a former Stanford athlete, has a long history of awarding lenient sentences to athletes and upper-class defendants for sex crimes and violence against women.” 
 
 Persky was transferred to civil court at his own request last summer. “Recall proponents’ claims of Judge Persky’s bias are completely unfounded and unfortunately reflect these unsettling times when judges are more and more frequently coming under political attack.” 
 
 Turner was convicted in June of sexually assaulting an intoxicated, unconscious young woman in 2015 outside a campus fraternity party, after two cyclists caught him in the act. But Persky, who followed a probation department recommendation in handing down Turner’s sentence last June, opted for jail, plus three years of probation, noting under California law Turner also will have to register as sex offender for the rest of his life.
– "Santa Clara residents deserve a judge who will protect victims, not rapists," said Stanford law professor Michele Dauber as the campaign to recall the judge in the Brock Turner case officially began. Dauber and other activists filed a notice of intent Monday to recall Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, WGNO reports. The judge has a "long pattern of bias in cases involving sex crimes and violence against women in favor of white or privileged defendants, particularly college athletes," which came to light after he sentenced Turner to just six months in jail for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman in 2015, the Recall Persky campaign said in a statement. Prosecutors had asked for six years. If campaigners can gather 58,634 voter signatures, the measure to recall Persky will appear on the countywide ballot in June of next year. Recall supporters say it will send a message to the whole country. Persky has already shifted from criminal to civil court, and supporters including District Attorney Jeff Rosen note that the Turner case has led to changes in the law, the San Jose Mercury News reports. "Judge Persky’s sentence in that case was wrong, in my opinion, but he had the right to give it,” Rosen said in a statement. "My focus as we move forward is less about an individual judge than it is to the victims of campus sexual assault." (A state commission cleared Persky of misconduct last year.)