The statement Brock Turner read to Judge Aaron Persky is one of the reasons he received an exceptionally light sentence (along with the support of friends and family who claimed he was generally a nice boy who never wanted to hurt anyone, insert jerkoff motion here). But not only did his statement fail to include any serious mention of the actual crime of which he was convicted (which Turner still doesn't seem to understand was rape, not drinking), it also failed to include the truth about his previous experience with drinking and drugs, both at Stanford and in high school in Ohio.
In his statement to Judge Persky, Turner painted himself as someone who had little to no experience with drinking, binge or otherwise. ("Coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol.'') But according to photos and texts on Turner's phone, which had been seized by police, that's not exactly true.
According to prosecutor Alaleh Kiancerci's sentencing memo, there was evidence that Turner had done his fair share of drinking and drugs well before he raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster during a frat party at Stanford in January 2015. Turner's phone records reportedly included texts he'd sent and received referring to smoking pot and taking acid as early as April 2014, before Turner even left for college.
On July 25, 2014, while still living in Ohio, Turner sent a text message to a friend saying, "Oh dude I did acid with [person] last week." On December 18, 2014, at Stanford, Turner reportedly sent a text to a friend reading, "Do you think I could buy some wax so we could do some dabs?" (Dabs are a potent form of marijuana that resemble honey or butter.) On December 24, 2014, someone sent a message to Turner suggesting they take acid over the winter break, to which Turner responded, "I'm down for sure." And on December 27, 2014, there was video "depicting the Defendant smoking from a bong and drinking out of a bottle of liquor immediately after taking a 'bong hit.'"
It's not surprising that college or even high school students want to and do try drugs and drinking, but it's interesting that Turner neglected to leave all of that out in his statement to the judge, instead blaming his behavior on the party atmosphere of Stanford. ("Living more than 2,000 miles from home, I looked to the guys on my swim team as family and tried to replicate their values in how they approached college life.'')
According to The Mercury News, Kiancerci pointed out the lies to the judge during the sentencing hearing, but Persky did not comment. Persky also doesn't seem to have considered Turner's propensity for dishonesty when dishing out a jail sentence of only 6 months out of a maximum of 14 possible years in prison.