Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams used his legislative influence to change the state's consent law, which critics say benefited a family member facing charges related to sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.
Mostly True
Republican Utah Senator J. Stuart Adams used his power to change local consent law to help a family member facing charges for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.
GOP Senator Changes Child Rape Law After Relative Accused of Sex With Minor - Newsweek
Source: newsweek.com
At a glance
Verified August 7, 2025Key Evidence
The New Republic reported that Adams used his power to change local consent laws benefiting a family member charged with raping a 13-year-old.
newrepublic.comnewrepublic.comGOP Lawmaker Changes Law to Help Relative Facing Child Rape Charges
Newsweek detailed that the bill passed in March 2024 allowed prosecutors to charge the accused under a lesser felony, reducing potential penalties.
newsweek.comnewsweek.comGOP Senator Changes Child Rape Law After Relative Accused of Sex With Minor
Multiple sources including Jezebel and Raw Story highlighted public criticism that the law change appeared designed to protect Adams' relative.
jezebel.comjezebel.comGOP Senator Changed Utah's Child Rape Law After Family Member Had Sex With...
rawstory.comrawstory.comGOP Senate chief changed consent law as relative faced rape charge involving...
The reporting
What the Evidence Shows
Multiple credible news sources report that Republican Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams played a key role in amending Utah's age of consent laws after an adult relative was charged with having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The legislative change allowed prosecutors to charge such cases under a lesser offense, effectively reducing the severity of potential penalties for the accused. This amendment was widely criticized as appearing to provide special treatment to Adams' family member.
Key points include:
The original law set the age of consent at 18, with limited exceptions for close-in-age minors.
The relative in question was an 18-year-old high school student charged with unlawful sexual activity with a 13-year-old.
The law change introduced a lower-level charge option (third-degree felony) instead of the more severe child rape charge.
The bill was sponsored by another Republican senator but reportedly influenced by Adams' intervention.
Public and media scrutiny focused on the timing and motivation behind the law change, suggesting it was tailored to benefit Adams' relative.
While the law change itself is factual and documented, the claim that Adams used his power explicitly to help his family member is supported by circumstantial evidence and media reports but lacks direct admission or legal proof of intent. Therefore, the claim is mostly true based on available information but should be understood in context.
Primary trail
Verified Sources7
Open source