When does “no” mean “no”?
Legal arguments are heating up in a Maryland Court of Appeals case that will determine whether a rape has occurred if a woman says “no” during sex and a man forces her to continue.
The state?s second-highest court determination that such a situation is not rape has drawn the ire of women?s rights groups and caused Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler to appeal the decision to the state?shighest court.
“To suggest it?s OK to continue to have sex is offensive,” said attorney Lisae Jordan of the Sexual Assault Legal Institute, who filed an amicus brief in the case in July. “The law should protect you after you say ?no.?”
Jordan has been joined by the Women?s Law Center of Maryland, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence in Washington, and members of the Oregon, Colorado and Minnesota bars in filing legal papers opposing the decision.
” ?No? has to mean something when you say it,” said Danielle Cover of Women?s Law Center of Maryland. “The idea that the only thing that matters is initial penetration … is not reflective of cultural advances.”
The crime of rape is committed when “a person engages in vaginal intercourse with another, by force or the threat of force, and without the consent of the other,” according to Maryland law.
“Nothing in current Maryland statutory or case law supports the Court of Special Appeals? conclusion that a man is entitled to persist in intercourse once the victim withdraws her consent,” Gansler and Assistant Attorney General Sarah Pritzlaff wrote in their appeal.
Attorneys for Maouloud Baby filed a response to Gansler?s appeal on Friday, saying state law is clear.
“The Court of Special Appeals was correct in holding that, under Maryland law, if a woman withdraws consent to sexual intercourse after penetration, the defendant is not guilty of rape,” the filing states.
Baby was 16 in 2003 and in a car in Montgomery County when a female told him they could have sex as long as he stopped when asked, but he continued for five to 10 minutes after she objected, court documents state.
Jordan said it?s important Maryland?s highest court overturn the decision in the near future.
“Our law on rape should reflect modern times,” she said.
