Oklahoma court: Forceful sodomy is not rape if victim is unconscious from drinking

[Tennis]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...lcohol-consent

An Oklahoma court has stunned local prosecutors with a declaration that state law doesn’t criminalize oral sex with a victim who is completely unconscious.

The ruling, a unanimous decision by the state’s criminal appeals court, is sparking outrage among critics who say the judicial system was engaged in victim-blaming and buying outdated notions about rape.

But legal experts and victims’ advocates said they viewed the ruling as a sign of something larger: the troubling gaps that still exist between the nation’s patchwork of laws and evolving ideas about rape and consent.

The case involved allegations that a 17-year-old boy assaulted a girl, 16, after volunteering to give her a ride home. The two had been drinking in a Tulsa park with a group of friends when it became clear that the girl was badly intoxicated. Witnesses recalled that she had to be carried into the defendant’s car. Another boy, who briefly rode in the car, recalled her coming in and out of consciousness.

The boy later brought the girl to her grandmother’s house. Still unconscious, the girl was taken to a hospital, where a test put her blood alcohol content above .34. She awoke as staff were conducting a sexual assault examination.

Tests would later confirm that the young man’s DNA was found on the back of her leg and around her mouth. The boy claimed to investigators that the girl had consented to performing oral sex. The girl said she didn’t have any memories after leaving the park. Tulsa County prosecutors charged the young man with forcible oral sodomy.

But the trial judge dismissed the case. And the appeals court ruling, on 24 March, affirmed that prosecutors could not apply the law to a victim who was incapacitated by alcohol.

“Forcible sodomy cannot occur where a victim is so intoxicated as to be completely unconscious at the time of the sexual act of oral copulation,” the decision read. Its reasoning, the court said, was that the statute listed several circumstances that constitute force, and yet was silent on incapacitation due to the victim drinking alcohol. “We will not, in order to justify prosecution of a person for an offense, enlarge a statute beyond the fair meaning of its language.”

Benjamin Fu, the Tulsa County district attorney leading the case, said the ruling had him “completely gobsmacked”.

“The plain meaning of forcible oral sodomy, of using force, includes taking advantage of a victim who was too intoxicated to consent,” Fu said. “I don’t believe that anybody, until that day, believed that the state of the law was that this kind of conduct was ambiguous, much less legal. And I don’t think the law was a loophole until the court decided it was.” To focus on why the victim was unable to consent, he continued, puts the victim at fault.

But several legal experts declined to fault the appeals court, saying instead that the ruling should be a wake-up call for legislators to update Oklahoma’s laws.

Pretty disgusting. What type of man is so desperate that he would get a woman drunk just to have her.

[Deleted]

How many man-hating threads do you intend to start today, Tennisace? I remember some moderator slapping some sense into you and telling you to stop starting threads about every single goddamn random news article you come across.

Wonder if they'd do it again.

Also, last I checked, gender-based threads aren't allowed on these forums anymore, and looking at your threads, most of them are exactly that; gender-based.

[Tennis]

How many man-hating threads do you intend to start today, Tennisace? I remember some moderator slapping some sense into you and telling you to stop starting threads about every single goddamn random news article you come across.

Wonder if they'd do it again.

Also, last I checked, gender-based threads aren't allowed on these forums anymore, and looking at your threads, most of them are exactly that; gender-based.

This a top story worldwide. Why shouldn't it be discussed?

[lonely zergling]

This a top story worldwide. Why shouldn't it be discussed?

It really isnt. o_0

Seems like his word against her word, what can you do in such situations?

[Berengil]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...lcohol-consent




Pretty disgusting. What type of man is so desperate that he would get a woman drunk just to have her.

Uhhh....most men throughout history until recently? Is this even a serious question?


Also, "he said, she said" applies here.

[tankbug]

Uhhh....most men throughout history until recently? Is this even a serious question?


Also, "he said, she said" applies here.

I wouldn't say "most men". I think it varied, but in our puritanical society, I think men would not get a woman drunk and sleep with her. Not because they were such great guys, but because they were afraid of God's wrath.

[Deleted]

This a top story worldwide.

No, it isn't.

Why shouldn't it be discussed?

Because it's yet another misandry thread started by you in a long line of misandrist threads in some man-hating campaign of yours on these forums, with a sprinkling of hating obese people thrown in.

Let me just quote something for you from here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post39688188

Stop posting threads for every single little bit of news you come across.

Remember that? Clearly it didn't sink in.

[Deleted]

Clearly the guy is a typical "nice guy" and deserved a "reward".

Jokes aside, she has no memory of the event, which makes it kind of hard for the judge here. Did she consent? Is he telling the truth or do we need to call in some SJW's?

The amount of alcohol found in her blood troubles me as well, it states that it's above 0.34(but how much above the stated amount?). Which isn't really all that bad, here in the Netherlands you can drive with 0.2 BAC or even 0.5 BAC if you're a experienced driver. I'm no expert on the subject but that means you should be able to do most activities while having such a amount of alcohol in your blood.

Hell, when I entered a club there were some people doing alcohol tests at the entrance for some kind of research and we entered ranging from 0.3 to 0.6 and the night had just begun, by the time we got out I'm sure it was a lot more. Again I'm no expert but I'm just curious how you can lose your memory or pass out when it's really not all that bad.

Anyways, this is pretty much the lack of evidence version of a "rape trial" because she doesn't remember. She could be pretending not to remember because she doesn't want to or whatever but without her testimony stating that she was raped and did not consent it's pretty hard to make a good call for the judge.

Update:

I'm also wondering why she would go to trial if she is not even sure herself of what happened. Oh never mind after reading it again I see that it was not her who accused the guy but Tulsa County prosecutors.

[Flutterguy]

"wake-up call for legislators to update Oklahoma’s laws. "

Pretty much. Nothing to really see here. Judges judged based on the law. Update the law to take away the ambiguity.

[ShasVa]

Sounds like a real-life depiction of American Crime Season 2, almost.

Bloody disgusting law though! How dare they even say this!

Say, didn't Oklahoma get bombed years back!?

[Saradain]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...lcohol-consent




Pretty disgusting. What type of man is so desperate that he would get a woman drunk just to have her.

I'm not one of those men, but uh...Literally billions is my honest guess.

Rape is not OK in any circumstance, but 2 drunk adults CAN have consent to sex. Your story says that only the girl was intoxicated, I'm not sure what to think about that, an adult should be able to give consent regardless of the state of intoxication, assuming the person in question is actually concious and not passed out/about to die from alcohol poisoning.

[Deleted]

This a top story worldwide. Why shouldn't it be discussed?

It's 100% not a top story worldwide, what sites are you using for your information?

[Heladys]

It's 100% not a top story worldwide, what sites are you using for your information?

1) His ass
2) The voices in his head
3) SJW high command

[Darsithis]

Gender threads aren't allowed here.