Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer convicted in 2016 of sexually assaulting a woman outside a 2015 campus party, wasn't interested in intercourse but rather "outercourse," his lawyer claims. Eric S. Multhaup—who's hoping to overturn Turner's conviction for the attempted rape of an intoxicated person, which came with a lifelong requirement to register as a sex offender in addition to a three-month prison stay—argued Tuesday that Turner was seeking fully clothed sexual contact when he was found thrusting on a half-naked, unconscious woman. Per USA Today, Multhaup appeared before a three-judge panel in San Jose, claiming that Turner had his clothes on and never intended to rape his victim. The "poker-faced justices ... appeared skeptical of his argument," reports the San Jose Mercury News.
Indeed, Justice Franklin D. Elia announced, "I absolutely don't understand what you are talking about." Multhaup went on to argue that the jury had insufficient evidence to convict—he said it was unclear when the intoxicated victim known as Emily Doe fell unconscious—and improperly "filled in the blanks" in the case, per the BBC. "Intent is rarely proved by direct evidence," Elia responded, citing reliance on circumstantial evidence, per the Mercury News. "We are not in a position to say [of the jury], you should have gone a different way," he added, while Deputy Attorney General Alisha Carlile said there was "ample" evidence to convict. Turner, 22, lives in Ohio and wasn't present for the hearing, which follows the June ousting of his sentencing judge. A ruling is expected by late October. (More Brock Turner stories.)