Since when does someone have to commit a crime to lose their job? Persky and his supporters say he followed the “rule of law,” which sounds like he had no choice but to give Turner a weak sentence. That language is deliberate and intended to confuse. All it really means is Persky didn’t break the law by following the probation department’s recommendation to give Turner a light sentence. What they didn’t say is that passing on that recommendation and giving Turner a harsher sentence fitting to his heinous, violent crimes would also have been legal. So given the choice between two perfectly legal courses of action, Persky chose the option that would release a sex offender back into the community as quickly as possible.