Loophole in Oklahoma rape statutes closed

A rape law loophole in Oklahoma which defines cases where a victim is drunk, unconscious or drugged as second degree rape instead of 1st degree rape has been closed by Oklahoma legislators. Representative Pam Peterson of Tulsa authored the bill to close the loophole after prosecutors in her city had to prosecute rape committed after a victim was drugged as second, not first degree rape. The difference in penalties regarding first degree versus second degree rape can be huge - life in prison versus a fifteen year maximum.

Current law authorizes a first-degree rape charge "where the victim was incapable through mental illness or any other unsoundness of mind, whether temporary or permanent, of giving legal consent."

Tulsa prosecutors used that definition to file a first-degree rape charge against a former nurse who was accused of raping a drugged patient at a Tulsa hospital. But the defendant's defense attorney argued that "unsoundness of mind" does not qualify when an alleged victim is drugged and unconscious. A judge ordered the man bound over for trial on a second-degree rape charge in April, and prosecutors decided not to appeal the ruling.

"I think it was an oversight in state law," Peterson said.

In a similar case in Coyle, a teenage girl recently attended a party and was given a drink she now believes contained a "date rape" drug. After passing out, the girl says she was raped and woke up with six men in the room. The only person charged in the case, a 24-year old Coyle man, is accused of second-degree rape by intoxication.

The new legislation updates state statutes to authorize a first-degree rape charge when the act is "accomplished where the victim is intoxicated by a narcotic or anesthetic agent" or in instances "where the victim is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act and this fact is known to the accused."

Peterson's bill passes with bipartisan support, and she said the new legislation would make convicted rapist pay the full price for what they have done.

"It's encouraging. We can work in a bipartisan way to get good legislation passed. It can be done....This legislation will make it easier to subject rapists to the full punishment allowed under the law."

The bill is expected to be signed by Oklahoma's governor next week.