A former University of Colorado student spared prison time at his sentencing on Wednesday for raping a drunk woman in 2014 has drawn comparisons in national coverage and on social media to Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer whose jail sentence on a rape case sparked outrage over sentencing in sexual assault cases.
Wilkerson was convicted earlier this year of sexual assault and misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact. On March 15, 2014, Wilkerson sexually assaulted a female student after she had too much to drink at a St. Patrick’s Day party while telling her friends he would take care of her.
But while the victim and prosecutors asked for prison time, Butler opted for probation and jail time.
The sentence immediately sparked outrage on social media from people both in Boulder and around the country.
“As a father of a little girl, I am pissed at my town,” tweeted Tony Calcao. Boulder City Councilman Aaron Brockett wrote, “We will never make progress on sexual assault if offenders go unpunished.”
Most of the national coverage has compared Wilkerson to Turner, who was given six months in jail instead of prison time for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after a campus fraternity party.
“There is currently a public outcry calling for the justice system to hold more accountable young college athletes who perpetrate rapes on campus,” the memo read. “Calling upon the court to not ‘ruin the life’ of a young college athlete demeans the suffering of the victim and the seriousness of the offense and bestows upon an already privileged individual a lighter sentence than an otherwise similarly-situated individual would receive.”
