Convicted Rapist Brock Turner Released From Jail After Serving 3 Months

(CNN) — Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner walked out of jail Friday after serving three months of a six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

Turner bowed his head as he rushed past a crowd of reporters outside the Santa Clara County jail in San Jose just after 6 a.m. (9 a.m. ET). He didn’t say a word before getting into a white SUV awaiting him.

“We don’t know who picked him up or where he’s going, but we’re done with him,” Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters outside the jail. “He should be in prison right now, but he’s not in our custody.”

The case drew national attention after the victim’s wrenching impact statement went viral. The brevity of Turner’s sentence triggered outrage against the judge and controversy over how the justice system treats sexual assault survivors.

Similar furor is expected after Turner’s release from jail. Supporters of the campaign to recall Judge Aaron Persky have said they will hold a rally later Friday.

Like most offenders in California sentenced to county jail, Turner, who turned 21 while in jail, was released under a law that gives inmates credit for time served.

He’s expected to return to his family’s home in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio. That’s where he grew up, and where he went after agreeing to withdraw from Stanford following his January 18, 2015, arrest.

He returned to California in March to stand trial on three felony counts: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person. After two days of deliberations, a Santa Clara County jury found him guilty on all counts.

Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci asked for six years, citing Turner’s testimony that the woman appeared to consent to his overtures despite evidence to the contrary, including his statements to police. His apparent lack of remorse, plus the fact that the woman was especially vulnerable in her unconscious state, weighed in favor of a state prison sentence, Kianerci said.

Persky followed the probation department’s recommendation of probation and county jail time, based on Turner’s lack of criminal history, his show of “sincere remorse” and the fact that alcohol was involved, impairing his judgment.

Additionally, the judge said at the time, he considered the “severe impact” a state prison sentence would have on an offender of Turner’s age, based on input from family and friends about how the conviction had already affected him.

“I think you have to take the whole picture in terms of what impact imprisonment has on a specific individual’s life. And the impact statements that have been — or the, really, character letters that have been submitted, do show a huge collateral consequence for Mr. Turner based on the conviction.”