Some states still protect spouses from prosecution when they rape their partner: NPR

Jenny Teeson says that her husband made a lot of sexual demands during their marriage, which made her uncomfortable, but she did not find out before divorcing him that he was there. had raped.

She was examining files on her hard drive and made a shocking discovery: four videos that he filmed the rapist while she lay unconscious. In a video, the camera zooms in on Teeson's face and her young son is lying next to her in bed.

"He was next to me and I have no idea because I was so cold," she says. "This person, whom I am supposed to trust, would drug me and make me so cold that I could not answer if something was wrong with my children."

Teeson says it's a hard story to tell but she is touring the Capitol of Minnesota to convince lawmakers to change a law that she said prevented him from getting justice.

On Thursday, Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, signed the bill repealing a little-known provision in the law protecting people from lawsuits in cases where they were abusing their wives. This is part of a larger campaign in the wake of the #MeToo movement to amend and repeal obsolete laws on sexual harassment and sexual assault.

What is known as an exception to marital rape can be traced for hundreds of years to British law, which was eventually imported into the American colonies. Then, it was believed that the unconditional sexual consent of a woman was only part of the marriage contract.

Most states had provided marital rape exceptions in their legislation until 1979. It was at this point that a Massachusetts bartender broke into the house that he shared. with his former wife and raped her. The case led to the first conviction for marital rape in the country.

Women's rights groups have campaigned for every legislator to legislators to change their laws. In 1993, marital rape was technically illegal in all 50 states. But, "there are these little loopholes and sub-laws that hide deep in the books that appear from time to time," says Teeson.

Up to that law, Minnesota prevented anyone from being prosecuted if she had a "voluntary sexual relationship" at the time of the alleged offense or if the plaintiff was the legal spouse of the person. actor. The state authorized prosecution if the couple lived apart and one of them had applied for legal separation.

"We like to consider spousal rape exceptions as an artifact of history, as a relic of the time when a woman was considered the property of her husband," said Attorney Zack Stephenson, attorney, who had exception.

About a dozen states protect their wife from lawsuits in a rape case, including in South Carolina, where a married victim must prove the existence of a threat of physical violence within 30 days following the rape. Legislators in Ohio are also considering removing an exception of marital rape in their law books.

Teeson went to the police after discovering the videos. They had planned to accuse her ex-husband of sexual assault, but she says it was at that time that her lawyer discovered the flaw.

"We were all stunned," said Teeson. "The county attorney's office did not know it and the judge did not know that this law existed."

In the end, her ex-husband was found guilty of invasion of privacy. This came with a 45-day prison sentence, of which he served less than 30 days.

The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission estimates that the repeal of the exception will result in seven additional convictions each year. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, more than 50% of women victims of rape have been assaulted by their partner.

The bill was opposed last year to a larger budget bill. Teeson said she decided to become a regular at the Capitol this year to ensure its adoption. She met with legislators and testified before committees.

It is rare that bipartisanship unfolds this session of Minnesota, which has the only divided legislature in the country.

Teeson was at the podium with her parents for the vote in the House. In an unusual move, all members of the chamber turned around after the vote to face him and gave a round of applause.

"I do not think I saw my father crying, never, and my mother, my father and I looked at the painting and in the space of two, three seconds, the whole painting was lit in green" she said, crying. . "It just confirmed that what I'm doing is good and that a person's voice can really make a difference."