A-List Secrets: Is This Miley-Justin Thing Legal?

Miley Cyrus is 15; her boyfriend Justin Gaston is 20. Is that legal? Well, of course it is!

I hear Miley Cyrus is dating some guy named Justin Gaston. I also hear he's 20. Is it illegal for them to be dating because she's 15, or is it OK because she's famous?
—Megan, Atlanta, Ga.

If you are implying that Ms. Miley Cyrus, who has shielded herself with a purity ring to ward off sexing of any kind, would ever engage in nonvirgin-like relations with her gentleman friend—well! I! Never! Ms. Cyrus is as pure as a spring emanating from a Tibetan peak, and I know because her PR machine says so.

Let's stoop to your febrile level for a minute, here. To answer your question in detail, there is no law in California governing dating between minors. Dating, as in, going to a Pussycat Dolls show and then sleeping by oneself in one's bubblegum-pink Barbie bed.

But if you are asking about intimate contact between Cyrus and Gaston, and what criminal charges such a union might trigger, well, that's a different story...

Laws vary from state to state, of course. If Gaston were to deflower Cyrus in Ohio, for example, the law would be much harsher than if he made the same attempt in California. But here in Los Angeles, the law is pretty lax.

In the simplest terms: Sex between Cyrus and Gaston—highly theoretical sex, of course—is illegal. In California, any intercourse where one person is between 14 and 17 and the other person is over 18 is technically subject to criminal prosecution. But whether it's a misdemeanor, or a more serious crime of felony, is all up to a prosecutor. The prosecutor first takes into account any other circumstances—stalking, pregnancy—before deciding whether to pursue a case.

(For those of you wondering how Bristol Palin fits into all of this: The age of consent in Alaska is 16 if a sexual partner is 18 or older. Levi Johnston, the father of 17-year-old Bristol's child, is 18.)

"The maximum sentence, if it's a felony conviction, is three years in state prison," says Robin Sax, Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County. "But what would really, probably, happen is that the case would be settled."

In other words, probation would be more likely, plus counseling, depending on the specifics of the case. As for the fame factor, Sax says, makes no difference when it comes to criminal prosecution. The sex is just as illegal.

And of course, just as unthinkable.

 

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