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In reply to the discussion: EXCLUSIVE: Parents of underage victim in Kate Hunt's case defend actions [View all]shawn703
(2,702 posts)There are degrees of severity. No, what Kate did didn't rise up to the level of first degree sexual assault, and nobody is prosecuting it as such either. The plea deal that Kate was offered did not require registration as a sex offender. Even if she gets convicted in court now that she rejected the plea deal, Florida has a Romeo and Juliet law to keep her out of the sex offender registry.
It is a sex crime whether you like it or not. And I looked at Texas's age of consent law (17, or not more than three years in age difference) and it would have been a crime there too. In fact Texas is even more wacky since they do have language saying they would prosecute same sex relationships with less than three years age difference. In Florida it doesn't matter outside of the unfounded claim by the accused's side that the parents only filed charges because they didn't want to accept that their daughter is gay.