California court overturns rape conviction because woman was unmarried

[claud3]

California court overturns rape conviction because woman was unmarried





AFP Photo / Martin Bureau

A man convicted of raping a woman by pretending to be her boyfriend in the darkness of her bedroom was granted a retrial by a California appeals court, which overturned the man’s rape conviction.

Julio Morales was accused of entering a woman’s bedroom after her boyfriend had gone home and after the woman had fallen asleep, initiating sexual intercourse while she was sleeping and under the influence of alcohol. The victim, who was not awake to see her boyfriend leave, believed the rapist was the one she was dating – until a ray of light flashed across his face, revealing his identity.

The woman pressed charges and Morales was sentenced to three years imprisonment. But California’s Second District Court of Appeals lifted these charges and called for a retrial after examination of an 1872 law, which considers a crime a rape only if the sleeping or unconscious victim “submits under the belief that the person committing the act is the victim’s spouse.” If the victim had been married, the act would have been considered a rape, but the law does not protect against a perpetrator deceiving a woman into believing he is her boyfriend.

“A man enters the dark bedroom of an unmarried woman after seeing her boyfriend leave late at night, and has sexual intercourse with the woman while pretending to be the boyfriend,” the court said in its ruling. “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.”

The victim alleges that after she realized Morales was not her boyfriend, she pushed him away and screamed until he left. Morales’ lawyers claim that their client does not remember being pushed away and that he did nothing against the woman’s will.
After claiming his conviction was faulty under the California penal code, Morales now has another chance at having his punishment lifted and walking free.

“We reluctantly hold that a person who accomplished sexual intercourse by impersonating someone other than a married victim’s spouse is not guilty of the crime of rape of an unconscious person,” the appeals court ruled.
A similar case occurred in 2009, in which a Connecticut man pretended to be his identical twin’s brother and deceivingly raped his twin’s girlfriend, continuing after she tried to fight him off. Jared Rohrig, a 25-year-old police officer, surrendered to

authorities and was charged for first-degree sexual assault. Even though he surrendered, the man was able to avoid jail time with a plea deal. Rohrig served a 90-day home confinement and paid a $3,000 fee, but evaded the years of imprisonment that rape offenders are usually forced to serve in the US.


In 2010, a law resembling California's stopped an unmarried woman from pressing rape charges against a stranger in Idaho, who pretended to be her boyfriend. Idaho’s law was amended in 2011 to protect all women – both married and unmarried – from rape by men pretending to be their lovers. But since California has not revised its 19thcentury law, Morales may soon walk free for his deceitful actions while other rape offenders spend decades in the US prison system.

http://rt.com/usa/news/court-rape-boyfriend-man-363/


I do not know about you, but rape is rape and i will stand tall on that opinion until i fucking die...

This beyond a freaking joke and an old law actually makes out the woman is at fault for this evil crime and she has to pay for this for the rest of her life, because she was not married

[Cybertox]

California here we come...

[DeviousOne]

California here we come...

Oh noes!

[$Greatness$]

Goes to show you that the United States of America is a fucking joke. We allow black and white print to overrule common fuckin' sense. Feel bad for the lady. Fuckin' lame... can't get ass on his own so he takes it. He dodged a bullet in Stupidsville. Let them boys find out what he went to jail for and BAM, lights out for him.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

That's so fucking sick...

[squirrelbo1]

the genius of law. No justice just precedent.

[brebaz]

In America the law protect the criminal not the innocent.

[reasonable_doubt]

Ah good old California with their "interpretation" and "context" of the law BS!

Their new state sign should be:

"Releasing criminal and disarming citizen since the birth of their Supreme Overlord Dianne Feinstein!"

[claud3]

i am so pissed that this is actual law anywhere in the fucking world

A women was raped and she is the victim here and she is the one paying for this all because she is unmarried

were will this end, you can rape me and be free to do so. Because my pussy has not been stretched by giving birth to a baby, because it's nice and tight for you to destroy

[weskurtz81]

i am so pissed that this is actual law anywhere in the fucking world

A women was raped and she is the victim here and she is the one paying for this all because she is unmarried

were will this end, you can rape me and be free to do so. Because my pussy has not been stretched by giving birth to a baby, because it's nice and tight for you to destroy

It's some old law that has been uncovered by some slick lawyer, no doubt it will be changed soon. Unfortunately, there are all sorts of laws on the books in each state that don't make much sense.

[DeviousOne]

Man they are so many dead laws that aren't enforced I remember when I was a public defender I would always have my assistants look into that for me with cases that had no chance of a favorable judgment. This is one of the few cases I've heard or read of that it worked!

Gotta love law I expect some women rights group to get involved in this shit soon lol

[claud3]

they are dead for a reason or are they pulled out to protect peado's and rapist

[DeviousOne]

they are dead for a reason or are they pulled out to protect peado's and rapist

They are called dead laws however can be enforced at anytime. One of the more interesting ones fall under the flag laws on how the american flag is displayed.

A close friend of mine and I were talking about doing a reality show on us driving around enforcing these laws me being the good cop and he being the patriotic over the top guy lmao

[claud3]

i know here in the uk their are dead laws like other countriesn that can be brought back to life and be enforced for stupid reasons... But for this it's basically saying that any one that rape's can upon this law or others like it, to have their case thrown out or contest for a retrial

It makes no sense

[keefy]

Every country has stupid outdated laws.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...d-7618201.html

1. Wearing armour in Parliament.

A law passed in the second year of Edward III’s reign barred anyone from entering Parliament or any other assembly wearing armour. While this might seem obsolete, it would also prohibit politicians from bringing guns to Prime Minister’s questions, so may be for the best. Imagine how much more damage Michael Heseltine could have caused if clad in steel.

2. Keeping a whale from the King

The Bottlenose Whale that stranded itself up the Thames in 2006 should have been offered to Her Majesty, according to an act of 1322. The law states that “whales and great Sturgeons taken in the Sea or elsewhere within the Realm” shall belong to the sovereign. A national fish-hunt began in 2004 after Welsh fisherman Robert Davies sold an endangered sturgeon, having been told by Buckingham Palace that he could “dispose of it as he saw fit.”

3. Beating a carpet in London

The Metropolitan Police Act of 1839 forbids the beating or shaking of any carpet, rug or mat in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police. An exception is made for door mats – strictly before 8am – but, in an early blow against littering, Londoners should avoid throwing “coals, stones, shells, bricks or other materials” into the street.

4. Hanging your washing across the street

Fines of up to £1000 await the citizen who tries to hang clothes on a line across a street, according to the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847. The same law prohibits leaving any “furniture…cask, tub, basket, pail, or bucket” in the street, or performing any cask maintenance thereupon.

5. Minding a cow while drunk

The Licensing Act of 1872 forbids anyone to be drunk while in charge of a cow or steam engine on a public highway. Disorderly rustlers may be apprehended and are liable for a penalty “not exceeding forty shillings”. Unlike some others, the section has not been amended to fit the modern sentence scale, raising the awkward question of conversion rates for anyone attempting to prosecute.

6. Firing a cannon near a house

The law does not look kindly on anyone who fires a cannon (“or other firearm of greater calibre than a common fowling-piece”) within 300 yards of a dwelling. But statute is surprisingly lenient: offenders will only be fined after a warning that their bombardment is causing “annoyance”, and then only up to £200.

7. Starting but not finishing a railway

In the 1860s, businessmen rushed to fund and build new railways – until rampant speculation caused the banking crisis of 1866 and wiped out dozens of projects. Only a raft of ghost legislation – special acts authorising railways that were never completed or even begun – now testifies to their existence. The Commission has singled these out for repeal.

8. Knocking and running

The children’s game of Knock Knock Ginger (or Ding Dong Ditch in the USA) was apparently such a menace in the 19th century that Parliament made it illegal to “wilfully and wantonly disturb any inhabitant” at their door without lawful excuse. By the same law, compacting ice and snow on the street into a slide is strictly forbidden.

9. Running a farm on your doorstep

Would-be guerrilla farmers had best beware the laws against keeping pigstys in the street, as they are barred from feeding or foddering “a horse or other animal” in a public thoroughfare. A fine of £500 can likewise be levied against those who slaughter cattle there.

10. Eating the Queen’s Swans

Technically, all unmarked swans in British waters belong to the Queen and are reserved for feasting. But every year teams of boatmen go about the Thames, tagging the flocks to save them from her dinner table in an official ceremony known as ‘swan-upping’. They compete with a royal Swan Marker, who, confusingly, leaves the swans he catches unmarked. Thankfully, none of them are eaten anymore.

[admartian]

Overturned on the basis of Sharia law?


Ridiculous.

[claud3]

you see you see, that is why i live in the UK are dead laws are normal lmao

[x6Teen]

the sex probably wasn't that good anyway considering she only saw his face after he finished.

probably some spooning and lazy missionary with the guy on top.

what if it really wasn't rape? maybe she just regretted it after they were finished because she didn't want to lose her current bf and get caught cheating. shit like that happens all the time. and i don't know about you guys but it isn't easy having sex in the dark and it's not very fun either when you don't even look at each other.

i know 2 people irl that had to go to court because a girl they picked up from the club cried rape the next day just because they regretted it the next day rather than not consenting to it.

[claud3]

A lazy quickie quickie dickie action, he could at least put on a freaking mask and i would not be so annoyed by this inaccurate depiction off a rapist

I mean how soft in the head must he have been to fault at that point off forgetting a mask

Common sense on the rapist part, he let all rapists down and should be banished from the rapist society

For shame for shame lmao

[weskurtz81]

i know here in the uk their are dead laws like other countriesn that can be brought back to life and be enforced for stupid reasons... But for this it's basically saying that any one that rape's can upon this law or others like it, to have their case thrown out or contest for a retrial

It makes no sense

They are basically laws that were made a long time ago and slipped through the cracks.... almost everyone forgot about them. Not that the laws are invalid, but they are basically laying dormant. This one will be removed from the books soon, no doubt about that.

[claud3]

All know oldie laws are crazy and out off place in modern day judgement, so we all have to accept they will be used for real evil acts

[podsaurus]

What a wonderful world we live in isn't it?

@keefy those are mostly harmless laws, apart from firing cannons around someones house those are just silly laws. We're talking about rape, violent physical harm and it's disgusting such a law exists there or anywhere in the world.

[claud3]

i agree, why a law for that and not one for the protection for women

[radgamer420]

Nothing surprises me about California anymore.

[claud3]

maybe the fact they have dogs has handbags and run half naked topside