Social media rallies activists to remove Stanford rape-case judge - CNET

Prosecutors were seeking two years for three felony sexual assault convictions each, or six years total, for the 20-year-old, who was convicted in March.

Usually the story ends there. Not this time. The day after the sentencing, the 23-year-old victim wrote a 7,244-word statement to the Persky protesting that sentence. BuzzFeed printed her statement in full. It went viral, racking up over 17 million views.

And on June 5, Stanford law professor and sociologist Michele Dauber posted to Twitter a statement Tuer's father read to the court, saying six-months in jail was a "steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action."

That post became a social media call to action. There are now 16 petitions on Change.org related to the Stanford rape case. Some petitions ask for Tuer to get a maximum 14-year prison sentence. Most petitions, however, are calling for Persky's removal from the bench, an elected position that Persky won again this month after running unopposed in the Califoia primary. One petition currently holds more than 1.2 million signatures.

Another petition organized by UltraViolet, a women's advocacy group, has received nearly 1 million signatures. Co-founder Nita Chaudhary hopes to remove Persky and "send a clear signal that rape apologists will never be tolerated on the bench."

Persky didn't respond to multiple attempts seeking comment. A Santa Clara County court spokesman didn't immediately retu emails and calls seeking comment.

People are also coming together in the real world, like the gatherings in Oakland, New York and Los Angeles Wednesday organized by GRLCVLT, which describes itself as a "secret society" of online feminists.

The movement against Persky had its first victory. Earlier this week, the Santa Clara County district attoey forced Perksy off another sexual assault case.

Dauber, who's spearheading an official Persky recall effort, said Wednesday that removing Persky will take more than widespread outrage. Such a recall campaign could cost upwards of $1 million, Dauber adds.

"If every one of those people on who signed the Change.org petitions gave us $1, we'd have all of the funds that we need to get his name on a [recall] ballot," she said while in Washington, D.C., where she was seeking funds.