A judge who faces a recall vote over his handling of a sexual assault case involving a Stanford University swimmer said he supports the movement to improve the way sexual assault victims are treated but ousting him won't help the cause.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky spoke for the first time against efforts to recall him in an interview Thursday with the editorial board of the Mercury News in San Jose.
"There is an underlying deep frustration among actual victims of sexual assault and women in general about the criminal justice system not taking sexual assault and domestic violence seriously," Persky said.
"But when you take this opportunity and you steer it in the direction that they've steered it, that's where there's a problem," he added.
Persky stood by his sentencing decision and said judges cannot bend to political pressure.