Law Won't Protect Unmarried Victims in Rape

[Damen]

Because we clearly haven't had enough RAEG lately.

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-law-wont-protect-unmarried-victims-rape-012941200.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court overturned the rape conviction of a man who authorities say pretended to be a sleeping woman's boyfriend before initiating intercourse, ruling that an arcane law from 1872 doesn't protect unmarried women in such cases.

A panel of judges reversed the trial court's conviction of Julio Morales and remanded it for retrial, in a decision posted Wednesday from the Los Angeles-based court.

Morales had been sentenced to three years in state prison. He was accused of entering a woman's bedroom late one night after her boyfriend had gone home and initiating sexual intercourse while she was asleep, after a night of drinking.

The victim said her boyfriend was in the room when she fell asleep, and they'd decided against having sex that night because he didn't have a condom and he had to be somewhere early the next day.

Morales pretended to be her boyfriend in the darkened room, and it wasn't until a ray of light from outside the room flashed across his face that she realized he wasn't her boyfriend, according to prosecutors.

"Has the man committed rape? Because of historical anomalies in the law and the statutory definition of rape, the answer is no, even though, if the woman had been married and the man had impersonated her husband, the answer would be yes," Judge Thomas L. Willhite Jr. wrote in the court's decision.

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The decision also urges the Legislature to examine the law, which was first written in response to cases in England that concluded fraudulent impersonation to have sex wasn't rape because the victim would consent, even if they were being tricked into thinking the perpetrator was their husband.

[ironbite]

Wow...just....wow.

Ironbite-and this is why laws need an expiration date.

[nickiknack]

[Shano]

Wow...just....wow.

Ironbite-and this is why laws need an expiration date.

Um the law actually protects the married women. Why would you want the law to expire??

[ironbite]

Read the story.

[kefkaownsall]

Sigh.  So if this is federal and martial rape is harder to prosecute.....does this mean all rapists are free #Invalid YouTube Link#

[Vypernight]

Does her marital status also prevent hhim from being charged with Breaking and Entering as well?

[Shano]

Read the story.

I did. My question still stands. Why would you have the law expire? Why would you not what Idaho did and amend the law to protect all women as opposed to only married women?

[TenfoldMaquette]

...okay, so that antiquated law doesn't protect her as written.

I'm pretty sure there are others laws on the books that say entering another person's house and having sex with them while they're asleep is STILL fucking rape. Since, you know, it is. You can't consent while you're unconscious.

This is about as clear-cut as it gets. I can't figure out why this is even a thing.

[Lt. Fred]

If anyone blames the judges I will scream

[DrFishcake]

When this story came across my RSS ticker yesterday from France 24 (IIRC), I assumed they were talking about the law in Saudi Arabia. Maybe by now I should know better.

[Material Defender]

It seems like it wouldn't be a stretch to extend the law, honestly, in this kind of case. Doesn't really make sense to me to keep it so strongly defined by the woman's husband or anything. Should be that impersonation to acquire consent is counted as rape. Homosexual or heterosexual.

[Jack Mann]

Unfortunately, it's hard to get mad at anyone but the rapist in this situation.  The judges have to enforce the laws as they are.  And this sort of thing (pretending to be someone's boyfriend/husband) isn't the sort of thing that comes up often, so legislators are unlikely to even know about the law until this case came up.  When it happened in Idaho, the law was amended to prevent this sort of thing.  One hopes that it happens in California as well.  And that people bring it to the attention of other states, so that any similar laws can be amended before they become a problem.

[Nightangel8212]

I've heard of women charging their boyfriends for rape because they had sex while the woman was drunk before... how can they say it's not rape when the man broke into the woman's home, and took advantage of her while she was pretty much unconscious??

If it was me that it happened to, I'll tell you that he'd be safer behind bars, considering I'm the youngest of nine kids and most of them are boys...

[ThunderWulf]

...okay, so that antiquated law doesn't protect her as written.

I'm pretty sure there are others laws on the books that say entering another person's house and having sex with them while they're asleep is STILL fucking rape. Since, you know, it is. You can't consent while you're unconscious.

This is about as clear-cut as it gets. I can't figure out why this is even a thing.

That was pretty much my reaction.  They know her broke into her house and raped her while she was sleeping.  Whether or not the law in question works or not, I highly doubt that other current laws wouldn't/shouldn't keep him in jail.