Gov. Brown Signs Bill That Closes Loophole Over Rape Convictions
SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill closing a legal loophole that allowed a rape conviction to be overturned because the woman was not married.
AB65 was signed Monday and revises a state law dating to the 1870s that said impersonating a person's spouse to have sex was rape. The law now also includes impersonating a person's cohabitant, boyfriend or girlfriend.
The revision was prompted by a 2009 case in which prosecutors said couldn't file a rape charge against a man because the woman wasn't married and the man wasn't pretending to be her husband.
Another bill, AB157, was also signed into law Monday that expands restraining orders to include high-tech domestic abuse.
Such abuse occurs when people take over victims' online identities to humiliate or harass them.
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