The Law Blog of Oklahoma

Former Coach Convicted of Rape, Forcible Sodomy of Student

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

A former basketball coach with Western Heights High School in Oklahoma City was convicted of ten felony sex crimes late last week in Oklahoma County District Court.

Judge Jerry Bass found Tyrone Lamont Nash guilty of five counts each of second degree rape and forcible sodomy following his relationship with a 16-year-old girl at the school. Nash has not yet been sentenced, but he will remain in the Oklahoma County Jail until sentencing.

Nash was arrested in September 2011 after the girl told authorities about their relationship. She says that the physical education teacher and coach was easy to talk to, and so she got his phone number by taking his phone while he wasn't looking. She began to text him, and he responded. His accuser says the pair exchanged thousands of texts. The girl told the judge that she came from an abusive home and that Nash was a confidant, giving respite and a safe haven from her troubled home.

At his trial, the teen testified that she was getting drunk with friends and Nash came to pick her up. He took her to his home where they had sex for the first time before he dropped her off near her home.

The girl says the pair had sexual relations at least ten times over the next few months before she ended the relationship in March 2011. She says that she was embarrassed and uncomfortable to see him at school, and she eventually told her parents about the relationship.

Remember, although the age of consent in Oklahoma is 16, state law restricts students under the age of 20 from providing legal consent to sex with any school district employee aged 18 or older.

As part of Nash's defense, his attorney challenged the constitutionality of the law prohibiting relationships between teachers and students, when both are of legal age to consent. According to his argument, Nash was not the girl's teacher and therefore not in any position of authority over her. Therefore, their relationship was not an abuse of power, but rather a relationship between two consenting people. The challenge was based on court rulings in neighboring states, including one state where the court found that a sexual relationship between a teacher and an 18-year-old girl was legal because it took place between consenting adults, and a law prohibiting their relationship would be a violation of their rights to privacy.

In December 2012, an Oklahoma judge upheld the law, saying that it was in place to protect students from abuse of authority by teachers. He ruled that the other case had no bearing on Nash's case, because it upheld the right to a relationship between consenting adults, whereas Nash's case involved an adult and a minor.

Although the girl had reached the age of consent and was involved in a consensual relationship with a school district employee who was not her teacher, the relationship was in violation of Oklahoma law. With Nash's conviction of statutory rape, he will be required to register as an Oklahoma sex offender for life--the same as if he had forcibly raped her or as if he had raped a much younger child.

Anyone who works in a position of authority over minors or adults needs to take careful note of Oklahoma statutory rape laws. Teachers, DHS workers, law enforcement agents, and Corrections workers are just some of those prohibited from sexual activity with students, inmates, or others in custody or under the supervision of the school system agency. The job description may outline such behavior as unethical or unprofessional, but it is also in fact illegal, and the consequences last a lifetime.

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