Embattled Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky opened up about his fight to stay on the bench.

In a month, Santa Clara County voters will decide whether or not he deserves to be recalled.

Persky has faced mounting pressure to step down or be removed from the bench since issuing what critics call a light sentence in the Brock Turner sexual assault case.

Judge Persky says he underestimated the backlash to his high-profile ruling in the Turner case.

“It doesn’t feel good to be on the, on the receiving end of so much negative attention,” Persky said.

In 2016, Persky sentenced Turner to six months in jail and three years of probation after the 20-year-old Stanford athlete was convicted of three felony counts of sexual assault.

Persky says criticism of his ruling is fair but a recall is going too far.

“I think judicial recalls should be reserved for misconduct by a judge or incompetence,” Persky said.

Those helping Judge Persky in his fight against a recall say removing the judge would have a negative impact on the justice system.

The last judicial recall in California was 86 years ago.

“We have heard judges in courtrooms already refer to not wanting to be Perskied,” Persky supporter Ellen Kreitzberg said. “Referring to the fact that they’re concerned if a certain ruling is issued in that case that they’re suddenly going to find themselves the subject of a recall.”

Michele Dauber is a professor of law at Stanford Law School.

She chairs the committee to recall Judge Persky who she considers to be biased in favor of privileged men.

“A biased judge is a threat to the rule of law and undermines public confidence in our court system, and the way to restore that public confidence is to vote that biased judge off the bench and replace him with a judge that the public can feel confident in,” recall organizer Michele Dauber said.

The recall will be held during the statewide elections on Jun. 5.

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