A Five Second Delay Could be Rape

In the 2004 case of Maouloud Baby, Maryland's highest Court of Appeal, has said that a man can be convicted of rape if he doesn't stop as soon as the woman asks him to stop.

In this case, "Maouloud Baby was convicted of first-degree rape in December 2004 after jurors heard testimony that the 16-year-old continued having sex with an 18-year-old woman for 'about five or so seconds' after she told him to stop," according to USA today. [1] This conviction was then reversed by the Court of Special Appeals.

However, Judge Lynne Battaglia writing the opinion in the Court of Appeal has now said, "We conclude that post-penetration withdrawal of consent negates initial consent for the purposes of sexual offense crimes and, when coupled with the other elements, may constitute the crime of rape."

This negates a 1980 ruling of the same court. In Battle v. State, 287 Md. 675, 684, 414 A.2d 1266, 1270 (1980), the Court said: "Given the fact that consent must precede penetration, it follows in our view that although a woman may have consented to a sexual encounter, even to intercourse, if that consent is withdrawn prior to the act of penetration, then it cannot be said that she has consented to sexual intercourse. On the other hand, ordinarily if she consents prior to penetration and withdraws the consent following penetration, there is no rape."

The court has also said that that rape trauma syndrome evidence should first be subjected to Frye-Reed analysis if an appropriate objection is interposed.

Source: [1] http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/04/md-court-expand.html