Judge on Brock Turner sex assault trial recuses self from new sex crime case

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Santa Clara County judge who faced wide spread back lash after sentencing a former Stanford swimmer to six months in jail for sexual assault has now recused himself from another sex crime case.

Judge Aaron Persky filed a motion in superior court recusing in a case he heard last year. In it, a defendant who pled guilty to possession of child porn, got just four days in jail and Persky was supposed to re-visit the case Thursday.

Persky set off a firestorm earlier this year when he sentenced Brock Turner, a former Stanford swimmer, to six months in jail after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

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Stanford law school professor Michele Dauber is spearheading the effort to recall Persky. She accuses him of favoring white men.

"We reasonably question his impartiality," Dauber said.

In the case, Robert Chain got four days for possession of child porn.

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"No other judge was as lenient. No other judge gave less than six months and no other judge invited the defendant to come back for a misdemeanor," Dauber said.

The defendant was supposed to go before Persky on Thursday to try to get his felony bumped down to a misdemeanor. Now another judge will hear the case. Public defender Sajid Khan defends Persky's decisions.

"It was refreshing to see the judge look at Mr. Chain in that case for his individualized circumstances, as opposed to just issuing the standard expectation," Khan said.

Persky's opponents hope to take the recall effort to voters in 2017.

Click here for full coverage on the Brock Turner case.