GOP Senator J. Stuart Adams Changes Law to Help Relative Facing Child Rape Charges

Republican Utah state Senate President J. Stuart Adams has abused his power to change local law to help a family member who was charged with raping a 13-year-old. This is the same Congress member who led a witch hunt against trans athletes, saying that transgender athletes put cisgender girls at risk.

Adams’s family member, an 18-year-old high school student, was arrested and was facing four first-degree felonies and 25 years in jail.

The new law, S.B 213, was drafted in 2024 by the relative’s defense attorney, Cara Tangaro, and sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore (R) after J. Stuart Adams confided in him about his relative’s legal charges. The new law, S.B. 213, adjusted various criminal sentences to address “unintended consequences or overly harsh or unfair outcomes.” I don’t see why a crime of this level would require LESS punishment for the perpetrator, but then again, Utah doesn’t have the best track record of protecting children from predators.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, another Republican, signed S.B. 213 into law on March 19, 2024. Two months later, Tangaro argued that the accused rapist’s plea deal would be changed in light of the new law. As a result, the accused rapist avoided jail time and a lifetime on the sexual offender registry. Attorneys also pointed out that, under the old law, if the accused rapist had been 17 and his victim had been 14 years old instead of 13 years old, the accused rapist would’ve been charged with a Class B misdemeanor rather than felony charges. These what-ifs are useless. What if my Toyota were a Cybertruck? It’s irrelevant to the fact that this 18-year-old raped a child.

S.B. 213 passed almost entirely on party lines: all state senate Republicans voted for it, along with one Democrat. All of their hard drives should be seized and searched.

After voting for S.B. 213, Adams and other representatives issued a statement claiming that they were very concerned about the safety of girls and women in the context of transgender people participating in sports. But not being actually assaulted, of course.

“Female athletes deserve the right to a safe playing field, fair competition, and equal opportunities,” the statement said. “Institutions across the nation have failed to take action [to ban trans athletes], thereby undermining vital protections and putting female athletes at risk.”

The bill’s sponsor in the state House, Republican Karianne Lisonbee, said she was unaware of the change in the child rape law and now opposes the change, promising to introduce a repeal of the law. At some undetermined point. In the future. It’s weird how only Republicans are the ones who don’t know what is in the heinous bills they’re constantly sponsoring, voting in, and passing.

As of now, the accused rapist will serve four years’ probation, complete sex offender treatment, pay a $1,500 fine, and perform 120 hours of community service. The child’s mother says she feels that the legal process “has failed them.”

“[The legal sentencing change] was out of nowhere. I felt like I was punched in the gut…. I feel like a law is the law, regardless of who you are, but that wasn’t what was going on here. I feel like [the 18-year-old] just got special treatment… and nobody was going to say anything about it.” The mother said the sexual abuse has made her child, an 8th-grade student, more withdrawn and careful, and less interested in being around her friends.