Calif. court tosses rape conviction, says old law doesn't protect unmarried victims

[BalancedGoat]

9. He will be retried.

The problem is that the jury was issued improper instructions. They were told that they could convict if they determined that the accused has initiated intercourse while the accuser was asleep. They were also told that they could also convict if they determined that the accused had pretended to be the accuser's boyfriend; regardless of whether or not they thought she was asleep when intercourse was initiated. Unfortunately, according to the appeals court, the relevant law for the second half of the instructions only applies if he had pretended to be her husband, which she does not have.

Due to the errant instructions, it is unclear which set of "facts" the jury convicted under. If it is determined the the woman was asleep when the man initiated intercourse, than that is clearly rape. Nothing in this ruling goes against that. But because of the lower threshold for conviction in the faulty instructions, the jury was not forced to come to a conclusion on that fact. So therefore the conviction is tossed and goes back to trial again.

Perhaps the law should be changed so that pretending to be an unmarried persons significant other would be considered rape just as pretending to be a woman's husband currently is. However that is a matter for the legislature rather than the courts.