On Tuesday, June 14, 2016, the Santa Clara, California, District Attorney’s office removed Judge Aaron Persky from an upcoming sexual assault case.

Persky gave Brock Turner, a student at Stanford University, a 6-month jail sentence for raping an unconscious woman with an object — resulting in an enormous backlash, including a petition to remove Persky from power, which over 1.2 million people signed. Prosecutors had asked for a 6-year sentence.

Persky had said since Turner was intoxicated he had “less moral culpability” and that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him” (Turner is in a local jail, not state prison; he will likely be out in just 3 months for good behavior).

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said the decision to remove Persky was “rare and carefully considered.” Further, “We lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing.”

The new case involves a male nurse, Cecil Webb, accused of touching the genitals of an anesthetized woman before her surgery at a hospital in late 2014.

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