Lawyer wants age of consent law struck

• Tweet

OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The lawyer for an ex-high school coach accused of raping a female student asked for a dismissal, saying Oklahoma's age-of-consent law is unconstitutional.

Tyrone Lamont Nash, 33, of Oklahoma City, was charged with multiple counts of second-degree rape and forcible oral sodomy following his arrest last year after a 16-year-old girl told police she had been having sex with a teacher, The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman reported Wednesday.

In a motion filed Tuesday in Oklahoma County District Court, attorney David Slane asked the judge in Nash's case to overturn statutes for second-degree rape and oral sodomy as applied to school employees.

"I'm not saying that it's OK for teachers to have sex with students," Slane said. "What I'm saying is this statute is poorly written and unconstitutional."

Under Oklahoma law, the age of consent for sexual intercourse and oral sodomy is 16, unless the acts are committed by a school district employee, The Oklahoman said. Slane said the law should be rewritten by the Oklahoma Legislature to apply only to teachers and school employees having power, control or influence over a student.

Slane said Nash was not the girl's teacher and that the girl was a volunteer for the basketball team Nash coached, The Oklahoman said.

"The reason the law is unconstitutional is that if two people are of age of consent, that means they have a constitutional right to privacy, which includes sexual relations," he said.