For an hour Tuesday, Maryland?s highest court delved into a heated debate over whether consensual sex becomes rape if a woman says “no” during the act.
“In the middle of a sex act, the victim changes her mind, is it rape? That?s the question,” Assistant Attorney General Sarah Pritzlaff said.
Pritzlaff is appealing an opinion from the Court of Special Appeals ? Maryland?s second-highest court ? that allowed a man to continue to have sex with a woman, even after she changed her mind during the act.
That court believes “once you accomplish penetration, everything else is fine,” Pritzlaff said. “That?s an untenable position.”
Her argument was countered by the attorney for Maouloud Baby, Assistant Public Defender Michael Malloy, who pointed the seven judges of the Court of Appeals to common law, which holds that consent is only important prior to penetration.
“If consent is withdrawn after penetration, then it?s not rape,” Malloy said. “… There was no evidence of force.”
Baby was 16 in 2003 when he found himself in a car with an 18-year-old student at Montgomery College. The woman told him they could have sex as long as he stopped when asked, but he continued for five to 10 seconds after she objected, court documents state.
Judge Dale Cathell countered Malloy?s statement that there was no threat of force ? questioning whether the woman felt pressured by Baby and another male friend in the car.
“He?s got a girl out in an isolated place in a car,” Cathell said. “… She compromised to make sure she didn?t get hurt.”
The court could rule at any time.
