Thursday, December 20, 2007

THE boyfriend of 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears could face statutory rape charges carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.


If 19-year-old Casey Aldridge really is the father and the baby was conceived in Spears' home state of Louisiana, the act could technically be considered "felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile" - defined as "sexual intercourse with consent between someone age 19 or older and someone between age 12 and 17".

Fox News reports that in Louisiana a person can only legally consent to sex at age 17. If aged 15 or 16, the other person involved must be no more than two years older for the act to be considered legal.

Yet Aldridge wouldn’t fare much better if the act happened in California, where Spears lives while on the set of her TV show Zoey 101.

"It states clearly in the Californian Penal Code that any person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (under 18) who is not more than three years older or three years younger than the perpetrator, is guilty of a misdemeanour and faces up to one year in a county jail," criminal defence attorney Jim Hammer said.

“But if Aldridge is actually more than three years older he could be up for a felony, which carries a maximum three years in prison.”

But lawyer Christopher Darden says charges are unlikely.

“The father of the child may have committed a criminal offence or misdemeanour by having unlawful sex with a minor,” he said. “But unless the complaint is filed from the minor’s parent, it is unlikely that this will be taken further.”
Source:http://www.news.com.au

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