She stole his innocence ?

[Handley_Page]

Assuming he is a normal lad, I think he likely may have offered it!.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-nfl-cheerleader-sentenced-for-raping-15-year-old_55d74402e4b04ae49702e872?cps=gravity_5540_-8489717034088248912&kvcommref=mostpopular

Is there a slightly different definition of "Rape" these days ?

 

[sr71plt]

It's pretty simple. A fifteen-year-old legally isn't old enough to give consent. So, if he did, it didn't count. He's not old enough to make that decision. If the woman didn't understand that, she's been living under a rock.

 

[redzinger]

When I first saw the headline, I thought it could have been some kind of error - say an 18yo thinking the boy was over 16.

48, and knowing exactly how old he was? No. No. No.

Make that a 48yo man and a 15yo girl, and the older man would have been lynched and chased out of town.

 

[JKendallDane]

Is there a slightly different definition of "Rape" these days ?

First off, as far as I'm concerned, she deserved everything she got far more because alcohol was involved than the breaking of any laws about age of consent. Most teenage boys don't need to be seduced with booze as an aphrodisiac when it comes to being willing to get their V card stamped.

Now on your point, HP, it's a pretty safe bet to assume the term "rape" was used in order to make the charges all that more serious and weasel a stiff plea bargain out of her. He was only fifteen, so it easily became a charge of rape based on current Maryland law.

Course the convoluted mish-mash of age-of-consent laws we have here in the USA from one state to the next...and the even more insane exceptions TO those laws within the states themselves...almost requires a call to your attorney before even considering having sex with someone under the age of eighteen. Just check out the state law that governed this incident:

In Maryland, the age of consent to have sex is 16. Any two people over the age of 16 may consent to have sex with each other, regardless of any age disparity between them.

Like most states, there are some situations in Maryland where people under the age of consent may legally have sex, as long as there is only a small age difference between them.

In Maryland, persons aged between 14 and 16 may consent to sex as long as the other partner is not more than 4 years older.

So, based on the first sentence, had he been a few weeks or months older and been sixteen instead, there would have been no charges able to be filed. Similarly, based on the next two sentences, had he been boinked at fifteen by a hot-for-a-high-school-boy, sophomore college cheerleader, no laws would have been broken.

I'm not even going to touch the crazy disparities and exceptions that exist when you start including the laws as they apply to under eighteen, same sex contact.

.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Assuming he is a normal lad, I think he likely may have offered it!.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-nfl-cheerleader-sentenced-for-raping-15-year-old_55d74402e4b04ae49702e872?cps=gravity_5540_-8489717034088248912&kvcommref=mostpopular

Is there a slightly different definition of "Rape" these days ?

Perhaps he did. But age-of-consent laws exist because we recognise that 15-year-olds don't have great decision-making capability and can easily be pressured into stuff they'll regret later, and adults need to be discouraged from exploiting that. She was 33 years older than him, she gave him booze. And she was on a school board - granted not his school, but she still should have known the rules about adults having sex with minors.

She was lucky not to go to jail.

 

[LadyVer]

I've read several articles about this. My immediate thought was that both had been reading too many cougar stories, thinking fantasy could come reality--along with the thought that she had some mental issues. From what I read, it sounded like it started with her chasing him, which led to make-out sessions in her car in ,parking lots. Then, I assume he realized that he was in over his head (no pun intended) when it led to being in her home with alcohol and her kids being in the home.

Fantasy/fiction is one thing. Reality is something else.