You're the juror: guilty of rape or not?

[BwanaBob]

Is there some master list of all strict-liability crimes? Because, good god, I find it unconscionable that such a thing exists in our legal system and I’d like to know what other crimes a person could be charged with regardless of “intent”.

[Loach]

@Asimovian

I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying here.

The problem that (I think) Loach is addressing is that there is little to no incentive, based on the characterization of the events in the OP, for the girl to want to put this guy in jail. She knows he thought she was older, and presumably, she doesn’t have any hard feelings toward the guy. So why would she want to testify against him?

In the scenario, the only obvious source of evidence for the fact that the two had intercourse would come from the girl herself, there would essentially be no case if she didn’t testify against him. So rather than trying to speak further for Loach, I’ll just ask the question myself: is the girl going to testify against the defendant? If so, why would she be doing that? And if not, what evidence is there against the defendant to prove the two had sex?

Yes that is what I am saying. Even if it is a strict liability statute there still has to be proof that the act happened. Even if there is testimony from the juvenile it may not be enough to go forward. I have a recent case with a pain in the ass couple. The girl is 14, the guy is more than 4 years older. They even ran off to Florida together. The prosecutor will not look at it because she would either not testify or be a lousy witness.

@Asimovian

Certainly possible. But the OP specifically states that they were happy up until the point the police interrupted them, so your explanation is not where my mind went.

As a juror, it would make a huge difference to me whether the girl testified that they had sex vs. whether a prosecutor was asking me to assume that’s what had happened. That sex had actually happened would be a necessarily element of the crime he’s being accused of, and while her testimony would probably get over the “reasonable doubt” hurdle for that element, a lawyer standing in front of me saying, “Well, they were living together for a month and he thought she was old enough—it’s OBVIOUS what happened!” would not, for me.

I can’t speak for everywhere or every prosecutor but I don’t see that ever going to trial. Just being in the same residence does not prove that sexual conduct happened.