Florida Teen Kaitlyn Hunt Arrested On Felony Charges For Sex With Her Underage Girlfriend
Remember Kaitlyn Hunt, the Florida teen fighting felony sex offender charges after the parents of her younger high school girlfriend demanded her arrest when they learned their daughter was dating a lesbian? A “Free Kate” campaign went viral, her Change.org petition has hundreds of thousands of signatures, there’s a Free Kate Facebook page, and just three months ago, things were looking tough but Kate was fighting.
Supporters, including Kate’s parents, say she’s being targeted with excessively harsh charges because she’s a lesbian. They say if she were male, she would not be arrested on felony sex charges, that the D.A. would offer lesser charges understanding this was a consensual relationship and the two met in the same high school and fell in love. Kate met and started dating her girlfriend in high school when Kate was 17, and her girlfriend 14. When Kate turned 18, her girlfriend’s parents turned to the police.
Back in May, Hunt refused a plea deal much harsher than those generally offered to heterosexuals in her situation. Kate would have to register as a sex offender everywhere she went, for the rest of her life, no possibility of appeal.
Kate turned that down, and recently, was offered a better deal.
Just a few days ago, prosecutors offered Hunt the chance to plead no contest to battery, and a count of felony interference with child custody that could later be expunged from her record. She would have to perform 150 hours of community service but serve no jail time — and have no sex offender status on her record.
But last night, Kate was booked into a Florida jail.
“According to The Associated Press, the state attorney’s office withdrew that offer on Monday following allegations that Hunt repeatedly met with the victim and sent sexually explicit photos via the Internet,” the Huffington Post reports:
Prosecutors also said that Hunt’s mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, has been communicating with the victim, and urging her to delete texts exchanged with Kaitlyn, TCPalm.com reported.
Hunt will return to court on Tuesday to learn if the judge plans to revoke her bail and send her back to jail. She also faces the possibility of more criminal charges.
The question here really is, is Hunt’s girlfriend a “victim”?
Buzzfeed last night posted this observation:
In May, University of Florida law professor Darren Hutchinson wrote about the complexity of the issues raised by the case — and the prosecutor’s pursuit of the case.
“Colton portrays the matter in very simplistic terms: the defendant violated the statute; actual consent is irrelevant; that they attend the same high school does not matter. But this reductionist position overlooks the important issues of sexuality, sexual orientation and fairness that this case implicates,†Hutchinson wrote.
Related:Â
Going To Court: Kate Hunt, 18-Year Old Charged In Underage Same-Sex Relationship, Refuses Plea Deal
Watch: 18 Year Old Kate, Dated High School Freshman Female, Faces Felon, Sex Offender Status
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