Judge orders man convicted of statutory rape to stop having sex until he’s married

'If you’re ever on probation with this court, a condition of that will be you will not have sexual relations with anyone except who you’re married to, if you’re married,” rules Judge Stoker

Judge Randy Stoker ordered that, should the defendant successfully complete the programme and be placed on probation, he would not be permitted to have sex with anyone unless he is married to them (Twin Falls County Jail)

A judge has ruled that a man convicted of rape cannot have sex with anyone until he is married.

Cody Duane Scott Herrera, 19 and from Twin Falls, Idaho, was sentenced to a period of five to 15 years in prison last week after pleading guilty to the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl in March 2015 — with the possibility of the sentence being suspended if he successfully completes a year-long therapeutic prison programme.

In an unusual proclamation, the judge then added that, should the defendant complete the programme and be released on probation, he would not be permitted to have sex with anyone unless he is married to them, according to the Idaho Times-News newspaper.

Judge Randy Stoker, told Mr Herrera in court: "If you’re ever on probation with this court, a condition of that will be you will not have sexual relations with anyone except who you’re married to, if you’re married.”

The fifth district judge reportedly explained that the condition would be put in place in part because Mr Herrera told pre-sentence investigators he had had 34 sexual partners. “I have never seen that level of sexual activity by a 19-year-old,” Judge Stoker added.

Lawyers and legal scholars are now debating whether Judge Stoker's conditions will be legally enforceable, with some claiming it breaches constitutional rights.

Shaakirrah Sanders, an associate professor at the University of Idaho’s College of Law, told Times-News: “I would suspect a judge can’t do that. I think it infringes on his constitutional rights.”

Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs meanwhile told the newspaper he believed Judge Stoker would be able to impose the probation condition, on the grounds that it is a move to keep the defendant from "committing another offence."

Mr Loebs pointed out that abstaining from alcohol was a condition of many probation orders. He said: “The judge has the ability to tell people to do or not do all sorts of things that are [otherwise] legal and constitutional.”