Oklahoma Court: Forced oral sex not rape if victim is unconscious

An Oklahoma court has stunned local prosecutors with a declaration that state law doesn’t criminalize oral sex with a victim who is completely unconscious.

The ruling, a unanimous decision by the state’s criminal appeals court, is sparking outrage among critics who say the judicial system was engaged in victim-blaming and buying outdated notions about rape.

But legal experts and victims’ advocates said they viewed the ruling as a sign of something larger: the troubling gaps that still exist between the nation’s patchwork of laws and evolving ideas about rape and consent.

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Although Oklahoma’s rape law says a rape can occur when the victim is intoxicated or unconscious, the forcible sodomy law does not contain that language...

Tulsa County assistant district attorney Benjamin Fu, also is director of the office's special victims unit, said he does not blame the Legislature for not addressing the issue earlier; rather he blames the court’s interpretation of the statute, Oklahoma Watch reported.

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