Jacqui Ford: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford and we’re continuing our series today on sex crimes involving children.
Some of the things we’ve been seeing in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area lately is several teachers from local school districts who have been charged with sex crimes for having inappropriate relationships with their students. Of course, it’s easy to find outrage in our teachers engaging with our students. But when we look closely at the law, what we realize is it can be a rather confusing situation for both the teacher and the student.
A number of times we see these students who are 16, 17, or 18-years-old who are otherwise legally able to consent. They believe that they are following the law when they’re engaging in activities with their teacher. They think that they have the legal, lawful authority to consent. And, sometimes, even by the government’s account, the children, if you will in these cases, the 16, 17, and 18-years-olds are the ones pursuing the sexual activity.
Not to make excuses for what’s appropriate and inappropriate, but the law says that a 16, and 17, and 18-year-old can, in fact, consent to sexual intercourse in certain situations. What they don’t understand, and what many people don’t understand, is that there are special circumstances for teachers. There is a statute, that is separate and distinct from all of the other rape cases, that defines having sex with a student, or an employee of a school. And what it says is that no student can consent to sexual intercourse with a teacher.
It arises with a bunch of questions – why is that so? If the teacher is a consenting adult, and the teacher can engage in a consensual sexual act. And the teenager is a consenting adult, for the purposes of this conversation, and can consent to a consensual sexual act. Why can they two of them not do it together?
Well, it’s not just because it makes us fell icky. Okay? The idea is that the teacher is in an authoritative position over the student. Whether they are actually in an authoritative position over the student, or they can be perceived by the community, or more correctly spoken, perceived by the student to be in an authoritative position. And that’s why the legislature has carved out this special set of circumstances.
It doesn’t always shake out to be fair. Because people are unaware of this law, and it’s only found in one little, tiny paragraph in a very complicated statute in Oklahoma laws. But because the teacher maintains an authoritative position over the student, the law just says under zero circumstances is this okay.
People in the community have different, varying opinions on this. And this is not a moratorium. I’m not ‘pro’ teachers having sex with kids, or ‘anti’ teachers having sex with kids. The fact of the matter is that we all owe a duty to each other, and to our children, to talk to them about what the law is. We have a duty to them so that they know when they engage that they think is fun and exciting and is meaningful to them because they’re not really being forced to do it by their teacher in an authoritative position. That they think they’re doing okay because they’re not being coerced, or threatened, or bribed, or promised good grades, or any of those things, that the student needs to know. Because in these cases the student, oftentimes, is not only a victim of the crime charged. The student becomes the victim of the media.
The student, especially when we’re dealing with young men, when they’re not seeking charges to be sought against the teacher, the damage to the teacher being charged is as great upon the child, as it is to the teacher. The child now has a reputation in the community of whatever the community wants to accuse him of. But, he’s oftentimes not brought back in and coddled and taken care of because he’s not a child and he’s not a victim of a rape as you and I know rape to be.
Oftentimes, he’s embarrassed. Oftentimes, it prohibits him from being able to continue school in that school because he cannot stand to go back and face his peers. Oftentimes, the only way the story gets out is because the student is bragging about it to their friends. And we also know, in those situations, if we’re dealing with teenage boys talking about sex, that those stories oftentimes get drastically exaggerated and embellished, especially in a locker-room setting where we’re bragging and slapping butts, and talking about how much action we got the night before.
So, this young man, who, for all intents and purposes, just got to put a new notch in his belt, is now drug through the mud as some child-victim of rape. And having that label placed upon them is as damaging to them in their future as having the label of rapist be placed on the teacher.
It’s probably time for the laws to change, but it’s not likely to happen here in Oklahoma. So, we have to understand is where the law is, and what it is what we need to do to inform our kids and not find ourselves in this position.
If you’re a student out there listening to this and you’re engaged in that kind of activity, I would encourage you, if this is not something that you want to be made public and to be drug into court to talk about it and testify about it, that you keep your mouth shut.
If you’re a teacher engaged in this type of activity with a student I suggest that you stop it right now. Because the damage to your relationship, and the damage to your career is greater than you can ever imagine. And the results of how this is going to shake out just can’t be measured.
So, if we’re dealing with student on teacher sexual assault, or rape, as it’s defined in Oklahoma, it carries a mandatory minimum of one year, and a maximum of 15 years in the Department of Corrections. That teacher will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of their life. Which not only means they’re going to never teach again, but they’re likely not going to be able to live in the metropolitan-area because of sex offender registration laws, and restrictions on where folks can live.
Although, the idea of a child being the aggressor in these situations is, although it may be factually true, it has some appeal for a jury because I think jurors understand day-to-day activities and real life way better than legislators ever could. But it is not a legal defense. And it’s important for us to recognize the difference between legal defenses and arguments made to a jury. To run the risk of taking a case like this to jury trial carries with it a huge burden when the teacher is facing 15 years in the Department of Corrections.
Prosecutors in this state have no interest in making deals with teachers because our prosecutors are elected officials. And as soon as they don’t charge you, or make a deal where you’re not a convicted felon, or don’t require you to register, that will be their first ad against them in their next election. It’s going to draw opponents. And, unfortunately, elected positions make decisions based upon their future electability, and not what’s right and wrong.
In the same vein, our legislators continue to make laws that don’t make any sense, and aren’t designed to protect anybody, justified to criminalize activity that people are going to engage in, and have been engaging in for hundreds of years. And they’re not going to loosen up the ties on these laws, so we owe it each other, and to our kids, to inform them.
So, what if you’re a teacher, or you’re a student, and you find yourself in this situation? Is this all doom and gloom and everything’s awful, and we should just pack up our bags and go to prison for the rest of our lives? No. The most important thing you need to do if you’re involved in this situation now, whether it’s been disclosed, or has come out publicly, is you need to contact an experienced sex crimes defense lawyer that knows how to handle the cases from the get-go.
The worst thing you can do is go give a statement to law enforcement without the advice, sound advice of an experienced criminal defense lawyer. And, worse than that, is to go out publically and answer questions with the media.
So, we would encourage you, if you have any questions about rape, or sex crimes, in Oklahoma City, or sex crimes involving children, specifically with regards to teachers and students, and other employees of a school district, please give us a call and let us at least be able to advise you, if not represent you in the future.
I think it’s an important note to make that I’ve been representing teachers, and teachers alone, but it doesn’t apply just to teachers. It applies to any adult employee of a school district. You know? Including the principals, or a counselor, or a coach, anyone who’s employed by the school district is deemed to have an authoritative position over the children. And all of them are off limits.
