[Banfield:] In three day, Stanford rapist Brock Turner is set to get out of jail. He was convicted of raping a woman behind a dumpster at a frat party and he got a six month jail sentence, plus three years' probation. But with good behavior, he's only had to serve a part of that, just a couple of months. But, today, we want to focus on the survivor, who we are not naming, but we will call her Emily Doe because that's the name the prosecutor was using to describe her. And it was, of course, Emily Doe's courageous letter to the judge and to the court and to her rapist that has now inspired a bill. A bill that's making big headlines. It's called B-2888 and it is in California. And, yesterday, lawmakers of that state vote unanimously, unanimously to ensure that anybody who is convicted a sexual assault in the state of California cannot simply get a sentence of probation. They got to go to jail. The bill now goes to the governor's desk, Dr. Jerry Brown, as to whether he wants to sign it or not. California State Senator Jerry Hill and Assembly Member Evan Low, co-sponsors of the bill, join me live now from Sacramento. They introduced this to the public and to their colleagues. And this has got to be quite a victory. Senator Hill, give me your reaction to this.
[Jerry Hill , California State Senate:] Well, it's quite exciting because we're very happy that hopefully we will see in the future when it's rape, it is rape. It will be called rape, regardless of whether it's forcible or whether someone is unconscious and you take someone and try to give them alcohol, get them drunk, to make them unconscious, and then you know you're going to get away without being charged with rape. So now rape is rape regardless of whether you're conscious or unconscious. That's the important part.
[Banfield:] Assemblyman Low, I saw a quote from you saying the Judge Persky's ruling was unjustifiable and morally wrong. However, under current law, it was within his discretion. So this is where you were all at, saying he had the right to do that. He had the right to give that sentence to Brock Turner, but it wasn't morally right, hence this bill. So with all of that in mind, do you think this backlash against Judge Persky has been fair?
[Evan Low , California State Assembly:] Well, Ashleigh, I think what's important is that we look at the loophole in the current law. It's unconscionable that an individual could rape an individual and be eligible for probation because this individual was unconscious. And so what we're doing is closing this loophole and saying that if you're going to do the crime, you're going to do the time. And it's important that we make this strong statement.
[Banfield:] But do you think it's fair that there is this backlash, there's a recalled Percy campaign, given that it was within his discretion to do this and so many have found it so offensive?
[Low:] Well, this is part of the democratic process, certainly. It was within the purview of his duties. But certainly we also want to ensure that we are doing our obligation as legislators and being responsive to the people. This is an atrocious act and we want to make sure that we're taking action accordingly.