The Republican president of Utah’s Senate managed to change consent laws after a relative was accused of raping a 13-year-old.
Newsweek reported a Salt Lake City Tribune piece that Senate President J. Stuart Adams suggested that the Utah Legislature change the law that would change the child rape laws.
“Previously, as adults, 18-year-old high school students who had sex with a 13-year-old could face a charge of child rape, a first-degree felony,” said the Tribune. “A conviction on that charge generally requires registration as a sex offender, while a conviction on the newly created lesser charge does not.”
The law was changed to offer a new option for prosecutors dealing with 13-year-old victims of child rape.
“Seventeen-year-olds who have sex with 13-year-olds face a third-degree felony charge of unlawful sexual activity; the new law now allows prosecutors to file that same charge against an 18-year-old — if they are an enrolled high school student,” said the report.
Adams swore that his involvement and familial relationship had nothing to do with the legislation.
“Some have suggested this change was made to benefit the case I was made aware of involving the high school senior. That is simply not true,” he claimed. “While the sponsor of [the bill] was aware of the case, I did not request the legislation and did not intervene or give input on the drafting of the bill.”
The mother of the middle-school victim told the Tribune that she was shocked to hear about the new law.
“It was out of nowhere,” she said. “I felt like I was punched in the gut.”
She noted that in both the prosecution and the legislative debate, “her child was an afterthought.”
“I feel like a law is the law, regardless of who you are, but that wasn’t what was going on here,” she said. “I feel like [the 18-year-old] just got special treatment …and nobody was going to say anything about it.”
Under Utah law, anyone under 14 cannot consent.