A plea for mercy for Brock Allen Turner

In recent weeks, the public has become nearly hysterical over the perceived lenient sentencing of Brock Allen Turner, the Stanford student convicted of sexually assaulting a blacked out party-goer behind the dumpster of a fraternity house. Turner was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison with probation. He will have to register as a sex offender upon release.

Facebook is replete with strong opinions a plenty from people who think the sentence too lenient, but who seem to have picked up only fragments of the story. But is the public outrage based on fact or on raw emotion, internet memes, or incomplete retellings of the events that led to Turner's conviction?