Word just in that the Old South continues to function like … well, the Old South, as a woman faces a “crime against nature” felony for receiving oral sex.
A Newport News woman charged with a felony for receiving oral sex in a car is challenging a state law that prohibits certain types of sex between consenting adults.
A police officer says he found the 21-year-old woman in a parked car receiving oral sex from a man about 3 a.m. Jan. 29. Both were charged with a felony under the statute for crimes against nature.
The woman’s attorney is arguing that the charge is unconstitutional because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Texas case that states can’t pass laws that restrict the private sex lives of consenting adults.
Virginia’s statute on crimes against nature says people can’t have oral or anal sex, whether homosexual or heterosexual. But the law doesn’t specify whether the sex is illegal in public or in private.
[…] On Monday – under an agreement with prosecutors – the man pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of indecent exposure. The woman was offered the same plea, said Newport News Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jill Schmidtke. If convicted of the felony charge, the woman could face up to five years in jail.
But her attorney, David M. Lee, says the charge against his client is unconstitutional. He points to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state sodomy laws while saying the government can’t regulate the sexual behavior of consenting adults in private.
I’ve got no problems with an indecent exposure charge, or laws regarding sex acts in public. But it seems that the Supremes have already settled this matter, and the DA’s assertion that the constitutionality of the statute “is a matter for the legislature” seems a bit … odd.
(via Jacob Levy)