The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that an Ohio law that makes it a felony when
a police officer has sexual relations with an underage person two years
younger than them or more was unconstitutional as part of a 4-3 ruling
on July 28.
R.C. 2907.03(A)(13)[1] states that:
“(A) No person shall engage in sexual conduct with another, not the
spouse of the offender, when any of the following apply:…(13) The
other person is a minor, the offender is a police officer, and the offender
is more than two years older than the other person.”
The court found that the provision violated the both the equal protection
clause in the Ohio Constitution, as well as the equal protection clause
in the United States Constitution. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor
noted other provisions in the statute that applied to teachers, mental
health providers, and clerics required a relationship through their occupation
with the subject, unlike the police officer provision while writing for
the majority. “We therefore conclude that R.C. 2907.03(A)(13) is
an arbitrarily disparate treatment of peace officers that violates equal
protection under the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution.[2]”
Matthew Mole, the police officer in question, first met the minor (The
court documents refer to them by the initials J.S.) after J.S. started
talking to Mole over a dating app. J.S. pretended to be an 18-year-old
senior in high school, and invited Mole to their house at 3 in the morning
on December 19, 2011. Mole was led by J.S. to a dark room at the rear
of their house. They were soon found by the mother of J.S., and Mole,
who was 35 at the time, discovered J.S. lied about being 18, and was in
fact only 14 years old.
He was charged with one count of sexual battery – the provision now
ruled to be unconstitutional – and one count of unlawful sexual
conduct with an underage person. Mole was convicted of sexual battery,
and served two years in prison.
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