02 November 2006

A 5 Second Rape?

A Maryland Court of Appeals overturned a rape conviction because a woman gave consent and then withdrew it. The State's appealing the decision.

What drew my attention in the article was the scenario. A 15 year old asks an 18 year old to have sex. She agrees "as long as he stops when I tell him to." During the sex she feels pain and tells him to stop. He stops in "five or so seconds."

Ummm . . . That's mighty thin.

Anybody got any info about this case? I suspect that the government might have actually argued that the entire situation was coercive and she had no real choice, no matter what she said. The paper implies that this was the situation but doesn't say anything about the government arguing it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The case is Baby v. MD:

http://www.courts.state.md.us/opinions/cosa/2006/225s05.pdf