No Statutory Rape Against Jamie Lynn Spears?

So says the very authoritative legal source of CelebTV.com:

In an interview Thursday with CelebTV.com, Casey Aldridge's uncle says his nephew is overwhelmed by the media attention he's getting as a parent-to-be with TV star Jamie Lynn Spears, 16, but "is not distraught over it."

But Odus Jackson, a pastor in Aldridge's hometown of Gloster, Miss., says he does not believe his nephew--who he says is 18--will be in hot water legally speaking.

According to Jackson, Aldridge (who was in the background when CelebTV.com spoke to his uncle, packing his clothes and preparing for a trip to Tennessee to discuss the baby news with his parents) was born on April 29, 1989.

A rep from the Department of Motor Vehicles in Mississippi confirms to CelebTV.com that Casey Aldridge was born on that date. That makes Aldridge barely two years older than Spears.

Although I poke fun at the source, the article does raise an interesting choice of law issue related to where the "acts" occurred:

In fact, criminal charges against Aldridge depend on where Spears' and Aldridge's baby was conceived, but it is not likely the teen father-to-be will face serious charges in any case.

Maybe I'm a cynic, but I doubt that Aldridge and Spears only had relations on one occasion.  Of course, it would be hard for the government to prove other encounters occurred. 

I figured I had to cover this very important issue because it's topic is obviously related to the blog and I couldn't be preempted by IsThatLegal and Corrections Sentencing two-part series on the story.

Comments

[Curtis G.]

I think it's irrelevant what the laws are. Despite many instances of minors being charged with statutory rape by zealous prosecutors for *consensual* sex, this is a celebrity case. Ergo, everyone gets a pass--and a lot of money from magazine interviews.