Anti-LGBTQ Utah Lawmaker Changed Age of Consent Laws to Help Relative Accused of Raping 13-Year-Old

State Sen. J. Stuart Adams, Republican leader of the Utah Senate, who once said that transgender athletes put biological women at risk, has drawn criticism after he changed state laws to keep his relative out of jail.

Adams helped change a state law to give his 18-year-old accused relative a lighter sentence after the teen was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl. Adams claims he neither requested nor helped draft the 2024 law that aided his relative, but he did ask for the relative’s rape charges to be reconsidered in light of the new law.

New Utah Law Allows Rapists Aged 18 and Younger to Receive Reduced Charges

Utah state law says that people under the age of 14 can never consent to sex, and the old state statute required that 18-year-olds receive a first-degree child rape felony charge for having sex with anyone 13 years old or younger. The felony charge required the rapist to also register as a sex offender.

However, the new law allows accused rapists 18 years old and younger to receive a reduced third-degree felony charge of unlawful sexual activity (and avoid jail time and registration as a sex offender) if they’re enrolled in high school.

Adams’ Relative Faced 25 Years in Prison Before the New Law Came into Effect, Now He Has Avoided Jail Time

Before the new law passed, Adams’ relative was charged with two counts of child rape and two counts of child sodomy (all first-degree felonies), and faced up to 25 years to life in prison as well as a lifetime on the sex offender registry. The relative’s plea deal with state prosecutors had reportedly reached an impasse, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

The new law was drafted by the relative’s defense attorney, Cara Tangaro, and sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore (R) after Adams reportedly confided in him about his relative’s legal charges.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed S.B. 213 into law on March 19, 2024. Two months later, Tangaro informed Judge Michael DiReda, the judge who was then presiding over the case, that the accused rapist’s plea deal would be changed in light of the new law. As a result, the accused rapist avoided jail time and a lifetime on the sexual offender registry.

“While the sponsor of [the bill] was aware of the case, I did not request the legislation and did not intervene or give input on the drafting of the bill,” Adams told The Salt Lake Tribune. According to the state’s legislative database, Adams voted for S.B. 213, which passed almost entirely on party lines: all state senate Republicans voted for it along with one Democrat, while the rest of the Democrats who were present voted against it. One Democrat and four Republicans were absent from that vote.

The accused rapist will serve four years’ probation, complete sex offender treatment, pay a $1,500 fine, and perform 120 hours of community service.

Victim’s Family Says They were ‘Failed’ by the Legal Process

The unnamed victim’s mother says she feels that the legal process “has failed them,” the victim’s attorney Tamara Basquez said. The mother said the sexual abuse has made her child, an 8th-grade student, more withdrawn and careful, and less interested in being around her friend.

“[The mother and child] feel really defeated through this entire process,” Basquez told the judge presiding over the case, following the lighter sentencing for the accused child rapist. “She just feels like there’s no protection for the innocence of her [child] and that there’s a disregard for how it really has affected them. They feel that there hasn’t been adequate consequences for the underlying conduct.”

The child’s mother said, “[The legal sentencing change] was out of nowhere. I felt like I was punched in the gut…. I feel like a law is the law, regardless of who you are, but that wasn’t what was going on here. I feel like [the 18-year-old] just got special treatment… and nobody was going to say anything about it.”

Adams Raised Concerns About Transgender Athletes Participating in Sports Months After Voting for the New Law

Several months after voting for the law, Adams and other Utah state Republican leaders issued a statement claiming that they were very concerned about the safety of girls and women in the context of transgender people participating in sports.

“Female athletes deserve the right to a safe playing field, fair competition, and equal opportunities,” the statement said. “Institutions across the nation have failed to take action [to ban trans athletes], thereby undermining vital protections and putting female athletes at risk.”