Just goes to show you what a liberal court can do to derail common sense and good judgment in a conservative state. What were they thinking in Oklahoma? In what world does this not qualify as sexual assault? Thank God the legislature there is fighting to overturn that bad decision…
TheNormanTranscript: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last month that unsolicited oral sex with someone who is unconscious is not a crime, sparking outrage and media attention far beyond the state’s borders.
Now, the Oklahoma Legislature is scrambling to address a gap in legal language that allowed the ruling to be handed down in the case of a 17-year-old boy who was accused of taking advantage of a young woman whose blood alcohol content exceeded .34 by the time she reached a Tulsa-area hospital.
Leading the charge are Rep. Scott Biggs and Sen. A.J. Griffin (R-Guthrie).
“We were outraged that a decision was made that seems to fly in the face of utter common sense,” Griffin said. “But if the court is demanding explicit instructions, they’re going to get explicit instructions regarding this matter.”
Because many legislative deadlines have passed and a new bill is out of the question, Biggs and Griffin are addressing the issue by amending the language of HB 2398.
“Rep. Biggs has a bill, House Bill 2398, and we are working to get language drafted that would very explicitly close this perceived gap” Griffin said. “Although, when I read the legislation, although there’s a gap, it’s a small one that has been busted open by this particular court decision.”
She said that language could be ready as early as next week after leaving the conference committee.
HB 2398 is a victims notification bill on which Griffin and Biggs had partnered with the Oklahoma Women’s Coalition. Because it deals with a similar statute, Griffin said it is within the rules to add the new subject matter.
“That was one of the only Title 21 bills available,” Biggs told the Associated Press. “So, we gutted all that language and inserted the new language to fix this issue.”
Griffin said this an imperative move for the state, but said it’s one she’s had to pursue in the past.
“As a state, just with perception, although I don’t find it in the legislature at all, we still have a pretty significant gap in the way that domestic violence and assault are treated in the courts and we will continue to find ways for the legislature to provide instruction to the court on how they are to handle these matters,” Griffin said.
“Ironically, this is the second fix I’ve been involved in. Last session, we had to close a slight gap when the courts were requiring specific instructions regarding sex offender registries and where sex offenders could reside. It’s prohibited in close proximity to parks, but we had a judge in the same area, same district that said a ‘town park’ wasn’t protected, it was just a ‘city park.’
“So, squabbling over the difference between a city and a town. These things happen, but when they’re brought to the legislature’s attention, we work rapidly to fix them.”
Griffin said there are plenty of disagreements in the legislature, but doesn’t anticipate the amended HB 2398 will be one of them.