Former Bengals linebacker Nate Webster is admitting in his sexual assault trial that he had sex with a teenage girl. But he claims that the sex didn’t begin until she reached the legal age of consent, 16.
It’s a strange quirk of the law that if Webster and the girl had sex at 11:30 p.m. on the day before her 16th birthday, then he committed a crime that can get him sent to prison for 30 years. If they had sex an hour later, at 12:30 a.m. on the day of her 16th birthday, then he didn’t commit any crime at all.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Webster’s lawyer, Gregory Samms, admitted to jurors that they’ll learn through the evidence in the case that “Something immoral takes place between Nate and [the girl].” But Samms added, “When it happens, she’s 16.”
In recorded conversations, Webster admitted having sex with the girl when she was 15 years old and he was 31. But his lawyers now claim that Webster’s memory was wrong when he said that, and it was actually after she turned 16 that their sexual relationship began.
Webster faces charges of sexual battery, gross sexual imposition (sexual touching) and five counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
