In the Interest of L. A. N.

A delinquency petition was filed in juvenile court alleging that 13-year-old L.A.N. had violated the fornication statute, OCGA § 16-6-18, by having sexual intercourse with her 17-year-old step-brother. L.A.N.’s attorney filed a general demurrer claiming that the fornication statute has been held to be unconstitutional. The juvenile court granted the general demurrer and dismissed the petition, finding that the Supreme Court, in the case of In re J. M. ,1 has declared the statute to be unconstitutional. The state appeals. 1. The state asserts that the juvenile court erred in finding the statute to be unconstitutional based on In re J. M. We agree that the juvenile court erred because the instant case is materially different from In re J. M.

Contrary to the juvenile court’s ruling, the Supreme Court did not strike down the fornication statute as unconstitutional in In re J. M . Rather, the Court reversed a juvenile court adjudication of delinquency for an alleged violation of OCGA § 16-6-18 because the statute, under the circumstances of that case, infringed on the juvenile’s state constitutional right of privacy.2 Critical to the Court’s decision was the fact that the juvenile and his girlfriend were both 16 years old at the time they had sexual intercourse.