Stanford student Brock Turner found guilty of raping an unconscious woman is now appealing his conviction

Former Stanford University student Brock Turner, who was convicted on three counts of sexually assaulting a woman found unconscious, has filed an appeal against his conviction.

In March 2016 Brock Turner was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault including intent to rape an intoxicated woman and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.

The attack took place on Stanford University campus in January 2015, where Turner, who was 19-years old at the time, was a student.

Turner was sentenced to six months in county jail, a sentence which was widely criticised as being too lenient.

Prosecutors recommended he get at least six-years, but he ended up being released early after serving only three months.

Last week, on December 2nd, Turner’s lawyers filed an appeal against his conviction, according to CNN.

Speaking to NBC, Turner's legal adviser, John Tompkins, said the original trial in 2016 was “a detailed and lengthy set of lies.”

"What we are saying is that what happened is not a crime," he told the broadcaster. "It happened, but it was not anywhere close to a crime."

Court documents show that Turner’s legal team are arguing that jurors received "extensive 'behind-the-dumpster' propaganda."

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Turner’s lawyers argue that Turner and the victim were found in a "completely open setting", and not behind a dumpster, which is what prosecutors in the original trial repeatedly made reference to.

His legal team say that telling jurors they were behind the dumpster "implied moral depravity, callousness and culpability on the appellant's part because of the inherent connotations of filth, garbage, detritus and criminal activity frequently associated with dumpsters”.

Two graduate students say they were riding their bikes through the campus when they came across the assault, at around 1am on January 18th 2015.

They testified that they saw Turner on top of the victim, who they say was motionless and appeared unconscious.  

When they approached the dumpster, one of the students said, "What the fuck are you doing? She's unconscious."

Turner then got up and fled the scene. The students tackled him, called security and attended to his motionless victim who was naked from the waist down.

The victim did not come round until after 4am, despite people trying to wake her by shaking her and shouting.

Turner claimed what happened between the two of them was consensual.

As part of his sentence, Turner must register for life as a sex offender. If his appeal is successful this will be overturned.

The case gained worldwide attention after Buzzfeed released the victim's powerful impact statement. 

At the time people were critical of Turner’s sentence, given the graphic details of the assault. His statement to the judge, where he blamed his “poor decision making” on drinking and the party culture at university, demonstrated he did not acknowledge responsibility for his own actions.