Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 751
June 12, 2016
Daniel Berger wins in Memphis for first PGA Tour title
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Daniel Berger won the FedEx St. Jude Classic on Sunday for his PGA Tour title, shooting a 3-under 67 to hold off Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Brooks Koepka by three strokes.
The 23-year-old Floridian had had never been in a final pairing until Sunday. When Mickelson, with his 42 career PGA Tour titles, closed within a stroke, Berger birdied three of his next four holes, highlighted by a 32-foot putt on the par-3 14th that pushed his lead to 13 under.
Berger finished at 13-under 267. He became the 13th first-time winner on tour this season and took home the winner’s check of $1.1 million in the 50th start of his career.
Mickelson and Stricker shot 67, and Koepka had a 66 in the round that was delayed three hours because of storms. Dustin Johnson had a 63, setting the back-nine record with a 29, to finish fifth at 9 under.
June 11, 2016
New York killed my dating life — and I couldn’t be happier now
Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis in "Sex and the City 2" (Credit: New Line CInema)
“Don’t give up, ” my friend urged me, my shoulder in her hand, a vodka martini in mine. “You’ll find something that feels right eventually.”
I realized that it had somehow, unbelievably, been a decade since I was in love. I’d had relationships — some serious, one as short as a day, and more two- to three-month experiments than I could count — but for the most part, for the bulk of my adult life, I had been single. Those 10 years crept up quickly. I love being alone. I can, often to my own detriment, fill hours, days, sometimes weeks, with actives of complete solitude without a speck of loneliness.
There was no rush in my twenties. Intent on my career, being single felt more like a badge than a blemish. I watched friends from high school, then couples from college, pair up and settle down. Not me. I wanted independence, self-discovery, the autonomy to make my own choices. I moved to an apartment in the East Village and jumped head-first into a fancy consulting job, followed by a cross-country move to California for business school. I met other women with ambitious goals and strong ideals and we clung to one another, our new friendships built on shared challenges and tools we were just learning to articulate. We reminded each other not to over-apologize, shared tips on power stances that felt so goofy but worked so well, urged one another to speak up and ask for what we wanted; tools the other 75 percent of the student body, for the most part, didn’t need to think about.
In the spring of 2012 I turned 30. With grad school behind us, my friends and I settled into good positions at good jobs, found livable-sized apartments in San Francisco, built lives we were proud of. And then, as if someone had given a signal that I clearly didn’t catch, my friends started getting married. Women I never thought of as codependent, couples I never imagined needing the safety of marriage; because they weren’t, they didn’t. They were just in love, and it was time.
Like all good business school graduates, my friends and I did the math — if you wanted to date someone for a few years before marriage, and then live together for a few years before kids, and then maybe even have another kid, and do it all before 40 — well, yeah, it was time. So while some started sporting rings, my still-single friends and I doubled down on dating. And although I had never in my life imagined a wedding dress, and still didn’t really get the point of an engagement ring, I found myself in a wedding wind tunnel; everyone around me either getting married or trying to.
In San Francisco that meant downloading every possible dating app. Many of us were averaging at least three dates a week and meeting regularly to discuss our progress. Spreadsheets may or may not have been involved. Google doc shares abounded. We listened to each other’s stories with care, assuring one another that of course he must be a literal psychopath if he never called back after such an intimate night, or that he wasn’t worth a goddamn second if he couldn’t even schedule a date 24 hours in advance. For years, we were each other’s support — emotionally and physically. We chaperoned wisdom teeth removals, held surprise birthday parties, gave each other pep talks before big meetings, cooked dinner together on Sunday nights. Being single in a world of couples made us not only appreciate, but prioritize one another. We were family.
But eventually, I had to move closer to my real family. My parents were getting older, and California, no matter how great my friends were, would never be home. And, although I was scared to admit it, at 34, I needed a change.
“If you think the San Francisco dating scene is bad, wait till you get to New York,” people warned me. I would widen my eyes to try and look scared, but the truth was, I couldn’t wait. If I knew one thing about my move back to New York, it was that I did not want to date.
Dating had sucked the life out of me. I was sick of telling my story, a story that not long ago felt unique and personal, but now felt empty and scripted. I was sick of throwing out commentary on hot topics like Instagram (what I consider the essence of our culture’s narcissism) and board games (painful distractions from any attempt at real connection) — comments that used to feel contrarian and clever but now, almost five years later, seemed manufactured, an assembly line of remarks. I was sick of trying to prove myself through intimate life details to people who weren’t even worth the time it took to program their names in my phone. With each date I felt more like the profile I was trying to represent, and less like an actual person. I would re-read my profiles on each site often, to remind myself what my date was expecting. It felt so off — it wasn’t me — but when I tried to change it, I drew a blank. Maybe it was?
When I moved to New York I went from having a family of friends who knew every detail of my life to having a handful of acquaintances who knew nothing at all.
“It’s hard to meet people in New York,” I heard people say, “Everyone’s so busy.” Again, I feigned concern.
New York, with its large, faceless crowds and anything-goes attitude, felt like a shield from the wedding wind. I knew no one, and even though I was smack in the middle of the densest U.S. city, it felt like a vacuum. And in that vacuum, without anyone watching or any force pushing me, I stopped dating. I had no one to report to. I deleted all the apps on my phone. Instead, I started doing something I loved but never thought worth my time — I started writing. I spent almost every night alone with my laptop. At first I was afraid to admit that I was spending so much time on something that seemed, in terms of life milestones, completely pointless. I didn’t know how to write; my career was in tech. But it was all I wanted to do, and with no one to answer to, there was no reason not to. I started going to classes and workshops and spent most of my Friday nights on the couch with an essay and a box of cereal. I woke up early, eager to sit down and put words to paper before my real job.
“Wild, I know…” I would joke to my friends back in San Francisco about my nights alone in New York. But compared to my chronic online dating, it really was.
“Doing what you want” is a loaded, indecipherable phrase for women. It’s nearly impossible to know what you actually want when expectations are piled high. I always assumed that having kids was part of adulthood— what people did when they grew up, the next step to becoming a whole, fulfilled person — and that getting married was the necessary precursor. But when I asked myself: do I actually want children? I had no idea. A caretaker, I am not. Pets frighten me and I’ve never owned a plant because I don’t understand why anyone would want to waste time watering it. But I identify as an achiever, and so the thought of not getting married and having kids — something so core to what I’ve always imagined as the female experience, something that seemed so simple for everyone else in the world — was terrifying. It felt like failure.
Letting myself escape the tunnel at a moment when I was supposed to be reaching the end, really did feel wild. Being happy on my own terms was a relief, even if happiness for me meant pulling my hair out over an essay for weeks at a time without leaving my studio. Even if happiness for me meant something entirely different than what everyone said happiness for me should mean.
I still go on the occasional date, and if I meet someone I get along with, I’m still excited by it. But I’ve allowed myself the possibility that maybe, ten years later, there’s still no rush. If I don’t meet someone who makes me happier than I make myself, then maybe that’s OK; I don’t need to go out of my way to search for something I’m not even sure I want. In many ways, that uncertainty is a gift. For women who know they want biological children, the pressure is real. Real, physical limitations accelerate the need to find a partner, and my sympathies, for that grueling task, in a society that pathologizes women who go steadily after what they want, is enormous. I am rooting like crazy for my friends who are searching on a timeline, and for every one of their priorities, so long as they’re desired, not assumed.
People’s assumptions hit me daily. I have nothing of interest to report to colleagues when they ask what’s new. When I say I spent the weekend writing — not for work, just pleasure — most people stare at me as if I told them I spent the weekend walking in circles on the sidewalk. Unable to find the right response, they want to ask “why?” but choose a polite “cool” instead.
My lack of concern concerns others. They think I have given up. But — often to my own detriment — I’ve never been one to give up. And so this concept of giving up haunts me. I think about it for days, and then months, and now years until I asked myself what it is exactly that I’m giving up. And when I look at the relationships I’ve surrounded myself with — my friends who still call me when they need someone to listen or understand or laugh, or my family who I can now see regularly, or myself who I finally, years later, feel re-acquainted with — I realize it’s not connection that I’m forfeiting, and it’s not the potential for love that I’m losing. I am giving up on the notion that finding a partner comes before all else. I’m giving up on other’s people’s expectations of what it means to be a woman and getting closer to defining that for myself. And it’s been a long time since something felt so right.
The Latest: Man shot by Dallas police faces assault charges
DALLAS (AP) — The Latest on the shooting and wounding of a man by police outside a Dallas airport (all times local):
8:45 p.m.
Police say a Maryland man who was shot by an officer outside a Dallas airport after a domestic disturbance is being charged with aggravated assault and assault family violence.
Shawn Nicholas Diamond of Edgewood, Maryland, remained in a hospital in stable condition Saturday.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown has said the 29-year-old Diamond struck his ex-girlfriend and battered her car with a traffic cone and large landscaping rocks Friday outside the Dallas Love Field terminal. He says an officer shot Diamond after he advanced with rocks in his hands.
Diamond also has been charged with criminal mischief in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton. Police there say he caused $3,700 in damage to city-owned trees by driving recklessly and was released on bond earlier Friday after spending the night in jail.
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12:05 a.m.
Police say a 29-year-old Maryland man was newly released from jail on a criminal mischief charge when an officer shot him outside a Dallas airport.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown says Shawn Nicholas Diamond of Edgewood, Maryland, was in stable condition in a hospital after the Friday incident outside the Dallas Love Field terminal.
Brown says Diamond struck his ex-girlfriend and battered her car with a traffic cone and large landscaping rocks outside the airport. He says an officer shot Diamond after he advanced with rocks in his hands.
Police in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton say Diamond was released on bond earlier Friday after spending the night in jail. Carrollton police spokeswoman Jolene DeVito says Diamond was arrested after causing $3,700 in damage to city-owned trees by driving recklessly.
Guatemala arrests 2 ex-cabinet ministers, hunts for 3 more
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Two senior Guatemalan cabinet ministers were arrested Saturday on corruption charges and authorities said they were seeking to detain three more as part of a continuing crackdown that has already seen a former president jailed.
Both former officials served under ex-President Otto Perez Molina, who faces charges of money laundering and conspiracy. He denies wrongdoing.
Chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana said that former Defense Minister Gen. Manuel Lopez Ambrosio and Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla were part of a group that used about $4.3 million in state funds to buy gifts, including houses, boats and a helicopter, for Perez Molina. They face charges of money laundering and conspiracy.
Perez Molina’s former Vice President Roxana Baldetti also is jailed on corruption charges, and also denies wrongdoing.
Aldana said a group of officials organized a collection each year to buy gifts for the president on his birthday.
Aldana said the money was handled by Juan Carlos Monzon, then secretary to Baldetti. Monzon has been collaborating with prosecutors investigating the case.
Interior Minister Francisco Rivas said authorities also have sought international arrest orders for former Energy Minister Erick Archila and former Communications Minister Alejandro Sinibaldi.
He said officials are also seeking to arrest another former defense minister, Ulises Anzueto.
Arriving at court offices, Lopez Bonilla said he did not know why he’d been detained, but expressed confidence in the country’s judicial system.
“I believe that at the end of the day, things will be cleared up. I can’t say more than that I am proud of the work I did,” he said.
About 2,000 people gathered for a demonstration in the center of Guatemala City on Saturday to support the prosecutors and the crackdown on corruption.
US reaches Copa America quarters with 1-0 win over Paraguay
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa America, getting a first-half goal from Clint Dempsey and surviving DeAndre Yedlin’s early second-half ejection to beat Paraguay 1-0 on Saturday night.
Dempsey scored his 51st international goal in the 27th minute, but the Americans’ defense was upended just three minutes into the second half.
Yedlin got his first yellow in the 47th for a slide tackle from the side into Miguel Almiron near the center circle and then when play resumed raised a foot and charged into Miguel Samudio near a sideline. Chilean referee Julio Bascunan immediately gave a second yellow, and Yedlin lifted both arms wide as if to say, why me?
Michael Orozco entered to play right back in the 50th, and Dempsey came off as the U.S. prepared to survive an onslaught. With Paraguay applying pressure, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann repeatedly turned to try to spur on the crowd of 51,041.
American goalkeeper Brad Guzan made an outstanding body stop on a short-range shot in the 82nd minute, then made a kick save on an attempt off the rebound. Gustavo Gomez put the ball past Guzan in the 89th but whistled for offside.
Hosting a special 100th anniversary of South America’s championship, the U.S. (2-1) will finish first or second in Group A depending on the result of Colombia’s match against Costa Rica later Saturday and will play a quarterfinal against Brazil, Peru or Ecuador at Seattle or East Rutherford, New Jersey. Colombia also clinched a knockout stage berth.
Paraguay (0-2-1), which lost to Argentina in the semifinals of last year’s Copa America, was eliminated.
With the Americans playing their third game in nine days, Klinsmann started the same lineup for the third straight game — something done only once before in U.S. national team history, in its three matches at the 1930 World Cup.
Gyasi Zardes created the goal when he received a pass from Michael Bradley, ran down the left flank and slowed. Marked by Paulo Da Silva, who made his record 137th appearance for Paraguay, and Victor Ayala, Zardes spurted to the endline and crossed. Dempsey sprinted into the penalty area as trailing runner and from 8 yards one-timed a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Justo Villar.
Dempsey scored for the second straight game and is six goals shy of Landon Donovan’s American record.
Paraguay had a chance to go ahead in the 11th minute after American left back Fabian Johnson missed a tackle, creating a 3-on-1 break with only defender John Brooks and Guzan to beat. Brooks made an outstanding slide tackle in the penalty area to knock the ball away from Almiron.
Guzan made a sliding save on Dario Lezcano at the edge of the 6-yard-box in the 45th after the forward made a run that split Brooks and Geoff Cameron.
Family asks for refiling of charges in black teen’s shooting
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The family of an unarmed black college football player who was fatally shot by a white North Texas police officer is asking prosecutors to refile charges in the case after a grand jury declined to take any action against the officer.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/25QLaAn ) that attorney Michael Heiskell, who represents the family of 19-year-old Christian Taylor, sent a letter Friday to Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson saying the family was “saddened and dismayed” by the grand jury’s decision on Wednesday.
Taylor was shot by Arlington police trainee Brad Miller in August 2015 in a car dealership after police responded to a burglary call. Miller was later fired.
On Friday, one person was arrested by police during a protest in Arlington of the grand jury’s decision.
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Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com
Fighting overshadows football again at Euro 2016
PARIS (AP) — Fighting fans, tear gas and riot police returned to the streets of Marseille on Saturday, before and after England’s 1-1 draw with Russia at the European Championship.
Clashes between England and Russia supporters even broke out inside the stadium at the final whistle, after Vasily Berezutsky headed the equalizer in stoppage time. England had taken a 73rd minute lead through a superb free kick by Eric Dier.
The fighting at Stade Velodrome came on a third straight day of hooliganism in the Mediterranean port city. The latest incidents prompted police to use water cannons on the troublemakers.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said one British citizen was “seriously injured” in the clashes.
“Once again, as over the last 30 years, an international football competition has been the scene of clashes between violent people claiming to be supporters of their national team,” Cazeneuve said in a statement.
UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, also condemned the fans, saying “people engaging in such violent acts have no place in football.” It will launch an investigation into the clashes.
The violence overshadowed a second day of the tournament that saw Wales make a winning return to tournament football after 58 years with a 2-1 victory over Slovakia. Switzerland opened with a 1-0 win against Albania.
Two weeks after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League, Gareth Bale stamped his mark on Euro 2016 by scoring the opening goal for Wales with a swerving free kick in the 10th minute.
Ondrej Duda equalized for Slovakia just a minute after coming on as a substitute, but Hal Robson-Kanu’s scrappy goal secured victory in the country’s first major championship match since the 1958 World Cup.
“We’ve got the three points, which is fantastic, but the important thing was the performance,” said Wales coach Chris Coleman, who highlighted Bale’s all-round performance.
“Everybody will look at his goal but some of his best moments were at the end of the game, his football intelligence… He understands what is needed of him and he delivers, and the end result is three million Welsh people loving him.”
Fabian Schaer headed Switzerland’s winner after just five minutes of a game that made a slice of European Championship history.
For the first time, two brothers played for opposing sides as Granit Xhaka helped the Swiss to victory over an Albania side that included his older brother Taulant.
“It was rather bizarre,” said Granit, who was recently signed by Arsenal after captaining Borussia Monchengladbach to fourth place in the Bundesliga last season.
“We gave everything for our country, both of us. We’re both very happy, me a bit more because we won.”
The action continues on Sunday with the first match for world champion Germany, which takes on Ukraine in Lille, while Poland faces Northern Ireland in the other Group C match. Turkey plays Croatia in Group D.
Germany coach Joachim Loew knows that the expectations on his team will be immense, given the triumph in Brazil two years ago.
“I’m more looking forward to it than feeling pressure,” Loew said Saturday. “Germany always has pressure, the same in 2012 as now, the expectations are high but we can deal with them. Pressure is no issue. We have enough experienced players.”
Alabama House Speaker falls from ethics champion to violator
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — In December 2010, Mike Hubbard had reached a pinnacle: Sworn in as the first Republican speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives in more than a century, he promised a strong ethics reform law to root out corruption in Montgomery.
On Friday night, he suffered a career shattering criminal conviction under that very law, found guilty of using the power of the speakership to benefit his companies. Afterward, a bail bondsman whisked Hubbard away from the jailhouse in his home county, a place where a road and university building bear his name.
It was a dizzying fall for the onetime GOP star whose political future once seemed limitless, but who now faces years in a state prison.
“He came to office offering ethics. First piece of legislation: We are going to clean up Montgomery. And then he became a leader in the mess,” said Natalie Davis, a political scientist and pollster at Birmingham-Southern College.
Hubbard’s conviction and automatic removal from office end a political career and add to ongoing political turmoil involving GOP leaders in all three branches of Alabama government.
A House Judiciary Committee holds its first meeting Wednesday on calls to impeach Gov. Robert Bentley following a sex-tinged scandal involving a former aide. Chief Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore is suspended from office and faces possible ouster over accusations that he violated judicial ethics during the fight about same-sex marriage. Moore has until Friday to file a response to the complaint.
“There is already such a huge mistrust in government. There is nothing good that comes out of having scandals in all three branches of government,” Republican state Sen. Cam Ward said.
Jurors convicted Hubbard on 12 of 23 ethics charges. The panel said he wrongly solicited consulting contracts from several companies and then used his office to help them, including having his staff work on beneficial budget language for one client.
Hubbard, closely associated with the business wing of the state GOP, was also convicted on charges that he asked four corporate executives to make $150,000 investments in his debt-ridden printing companies.
Prosecutors painted Hubbard as a politician consumed by greed, who put a “for sale” sign on the speaker’s office.
“This is probably the first time in recent history that someone at this level has been prosecuted,” W. Van Davis, the acting attorney general in the case, said Friday night. He added that prosecutors hope the verdict restores Alabamians’ confidence that public officials at all levels in the state will be held accountable.
Defense lawyers had insisted the transactions involved legitimate business dealings or requests to longtime friends. Defense lawyer Bill Baxley argued that Hubbard took care to obey the state ethics law.
“We’re very disappointed with the verdict. We plan on appealing. I feel like I let my client down. We feel confident we will prevail in the outcome,” defense lawyer David McKnight said Friday night.
Hubbard and his legal team declined to comment Saturday.
Ambition in business and politics has been a Hubbard trademark.
Hubbard was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1998. As state GOP chairman, he spearheaded Republicans’ 2010 offensive to win control of the Legislature for the first time in 136 years. Hubbard recruited candidates, raised money and coordinated campaigns lambasting corruption under Democrats.
In his book, “Storming the Statehouse,” Hubbard describes how, after becoming enamored with radio broadcasting as a Boy Scout, he pestered a station and landed a job as a disc jockey at age 13. As a young sports public relations employee at Auburn University, he successfully approached the school’s head coach about producing his television show — something he’d never done before.
Hubbard was removed from the legislature automatically because of the felony conviction. Speaker Pro Tem Victor Gaston will assume the duties of speaker. The House could elect a new speaker the next time it’s in session, now scheduled for February.
Hubbard’s House seat will be filled in a special election called by the governor.
The leader of House Democrats criticized Hubbard just as Hubbard had lashed out at Democrats nearly six years ago.
“This is a dark day for Alabama. Mike Hubbard led Republicans to a supermajority on a platform of cleaning up corruption in Montgomery. But instead of cleaning up corruption, Mike Hubbard and the Republican leadership in all three branches of our government have embraced corruption,” House Minority Leader Craig Ford said.
Gaston said the 2010 ethics law proved its value.
“This incident, no matter how regrettable, offers strong proof that the ethics reforms passed by the Legislature in 2010 remain among the toughest in the nation,” he said. “I know that every House member, regardless of party, will keep Mike Hubbard and his family in our prayers as he begins this next, most difficult chapter in his life.”
Timeline of significant dates in the life of Brock Turner
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The case against a former Stanford University swimmer on sexual assault charges has gripped the country. It’s launched a national conversation about campus sexual assault, college drinking and inequitable treatment in the criminal justice system.
Letters to a judge from Brock Allen Turner’s family and friends have drawn outrage from critics who say they are shifting blame. Meanwhile, a searing message the victim read to Turner at his sentencing has been called a courageous account of the effect the assault has had on her.
Here’s a closer look at Turner and key dates related to the case and the ongoing debate, gleaned from court files:
— Aug. 1, 1995 — Brock Allen Turner is born in Dayton, Ohio. He has an older brother and sister. His father is an electrical engineer and his mother a registered nurse.
— 2010-2014 — Turner attends Oakwood High School in an affluent Dayton suburb, where he excels on the swim team. He wins state titles in several freestyle events. He still holds the high school record for fastest 500-meter time in Ohio. Investigators will later say they found text messages on Turner’s cellphone discussing drinking, smoking marijuana and taking LSD before leaving for Stanford University in September 2014, according to prosecutor Alaleh Kianerci.
— July 25, 2014 — Turner texts a friend “dude I did acid with Kristian last week.” His friend boasts about “candyflippin,” which is slang for taking LSD and the drug ecstasy together. “I gotta…try that. I heard it’s awesome,” Turner responds.
— Sept. 2014 — Turner starts attending Stanford University on a swimming scholarship.
— Nov. 15, 2014 — Turner and several teammates are chased by police after officers see the group walking on campus and drinking beer. The group had been on its way to a football game when they scattered after an officer shouted for them to stop. Two officers chase the teens through campus, finally catching one. The detained swimmer calls Turner and told him to return and talk with police. Turner, who was wearing an orange tuxedo, returns and apologizes for running away. He receives a ticket for being a minor in possession of alcohol.
— Dec. 18, 2014 — Turner texts a friend “do you think I could buy some wax so we could do some dabs?” Police say “wax” and “dabs” are slang for a highly concentrated form of marijuana that is similar in appearance to honey.
— Jan. 10, 2015 — Turner attends party at Kappa Alpha fraternity house. A female Stanford student who lived in Turner’s dorm building introduces a friend to him. The friend later tells police Turner “creeped her out” and was “grabby” with her because he was placing his hands on her waist, stomach and thigh while they were dancing. The friend says she didn’t invite Turner to dance with her nor did she seek his physical attention. She tells police she left the dance floor to get away from Turner.
— Jan. 17, 2105 — Turner attends a party at Kappa Alpha fraternity house where he meets the victim, the victim’s sister and their friends. Turner and the victim leave the party and she passes out behind a nearby dumpster where Turner assaults her early the next morning. He is tackled by two grad students and arrested.
— Jan. 18, 2015 — Turner posts $150,000 bail and is released from jail
— Jan. 28, 2015 — Turner is formally charged with two counts of rape, two counts of penetration and one count of assault with intent to rape. He pleads not guilty.
— Oct. 7, 2015 — A judge tosses out the rape charges and Turner is ordered to stand trial on the remaining counts.
— March 30, 2016 — A Santa Clara County jury finds Turner guilty of the three remaining counts. Turner’s attorney says the verdict will be appealed.
— May 9, 2016 — Turner tells a probation officer that he believed the victim was responsive during the assault and that he would have stopped if he thought she was unconscious. “Being drunk I just couldn’t make the best decisions and neither could she.” He denies ever using illegal drugs. In a written statement, he says “coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol.” He says he was an “inexperienced drinker and party goer.”
— May 31, 2016 — Turner’s attorney Mike Armstrong urges the judge to sentence his client to four months in jail. “The fact remains that, even after trial in this court, no one can pinpoint exactly when the victim went from being conscious to being unconscious.” Armstrong told the judge that Turner “is a fundamentally good young man from a good family with a record of real accomplishments who made bad choices during his time at Stanford of about four months, especially related to alcohol and the 20 minutes or so during the night of January 17-18, 2015 when he committed these serious crimes.” Armstrong noted that Turner was expelled from Stanford, effectively ending an elite and promising swimming career.
— June 2, 2016 — Judge Aaron Persky sentences Turner to six months in jail and orders him to register as a sex offender for life. Turner is taken into custody and placed in protective custody because of his notoriety. He is scheduled to be released on Sept. 2. The sentence touches off an emotional national debate about leniency and campus sexual assault. Critics begin to collect signatures in an attempt to remove Persky from the bench.
Creator pulls an upset in the Belmont Stakes
NEW YORK (AP) — Creator closed with a rush and caught Destin at the wire to win the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, with Preakness winner Exaggerator finishing well back in the field.
The 3-year-old gray colt trained by Steve Asmussen came flying down the stretch as Destin tried to hang on to the lead. But it was Creator, who finished 13th in the Derby and skipped the Preakness, who won by a nose. It was the fourth time the Belmont was decided by a nose — the closest possible margin of victory.
Preakness winner Exaggerator was sent off as the 7-5 favorite in the field of 13. He was closer to the lead than usual, but wound up 11th.
A year ago, American Pharoah ran to Triple Crown glory at Belmont Park, but a Triple wasn’t on the line this time. Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby, but finished third in the Preakness and did not run in the Belmont.
The winning time for 1 1/2 miles was 2:28.51.
