Brock Turner was released from jail on Friday in San Jose, Calif., after serving just half of a six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, a sentence widely criticized as too lenient, reports Reuters. The former Stanford swimmer, 20, left the Santa Clara County Jail shortly after 6 a.m. local time, just three months after he began serving a sentence for assault with intent to commit rape, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person.
Sheriff’s deputies stood nearby as Turner, carrying a paper bag filled with his belongings, walked silently from the jail to a white sports utility vehicle waiting at the curb. Turner did not answer questions from reporters, climbing into the vehicle which quickly sped away. The Turner case shot to prominence last year because the defendant was a rising-star student athlete at Stanford. Turner, then 19, was arrested after two students saw him outside a fraternity house on top of an unconscious woman.