Will Casey Aldridge Be Charged with Statutory Rape?

Jamie Lynn Spears' shocking announcement earlier in the week has people wondering: Will her 18 year old boyfriend suffer any consequences for impregnating 16 year old Jamie? For months the public has been looking on in fascinated disgust as her sister Britney is slowly self-destructing and leaving two small children in the wake of her emotional and possibly moral decline. Just as the snapping jackals of the paparazzi contented themselves with pumping her gas and wishing her a good night and a safe drive every time they had their fill of snapping pictures of Britney doing absolutely nothing, the Spears family once again provided ample fodder for the click happy mob: young Jamie's unplanned pregnancy.

Aside from the fact that the child is a mere 16 years young and thus a statistic in the making by virtue of another unwed teenage mom being thrown into the mix, the legal questions simply cannot be ignored: what was Casey Aldridge thinking (the answer what he was doing his thinking with having been answered satisfactorily) and will his infatuation with the beautiful teen land him in jail?

At the time of conception, the younger Spears girl must have been about 15 or 16 years of age and thus well below the age of consent. Therefore, any sexual intercourse is considered statutory rape, no matter how consensual it supposedly occurred. The philosophy behind the law being that a child of the tender age of 15 and 16 may have all the biological trappings that permit and even invite intercourse, but because of the emotional and mental age, the teen is not able to fully understand the full list of ramifications related to this activity. In other words, even though Jamie probably invited the advances of Casey, she was not legally able to consent.

If statutory rape charges were pursued in California, where the younger Spears girl works, Casey would most likely be charged with a misdemeanor under Cal. Penal Code § 261 (2003) and if convicted might be sentenced to about one year in state prison or county jail. Other possible charges may include molestation and, if alcohol was ever involved, child endangerment.