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In re J. M.

A 16-year-old juvenile had a constitutionally protected privacy interest in having consensual sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend in the bedroom of her parents' home.

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The juvenile court found that sixteen-year-old J.M. violated Georgia’s fornication statute, OCGA § 16-6-18, by having sexual intercourse with his sixteen-year-old girlfriend G.D.1 in her bedroom and adjudicated him delinquent. On appeal, J.M. contends that his constitutional right of privacy prohibits the State from criminalizing his conduct. As we held in Powell v. State,2 the Georgia Constitution protects from criminal sanction private, unforced, non-commercial acts of sexual intimacy between persons legally able to consent. Because the State relied on conduct that was protected by Georgia’s right to privacy to adjudicate J.M. delinquent, we reverse.

G.D. lived with her parents. Between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on September 16, 2001, she brought appellant J.M. into her bedroom. She placed a stool next to the closed bedroom door, and she and J.M. engaged in sexual intercourse on the floor of her bedroom. When G.D.’s mother walked in and discovered them having sexual intercourse, J.M. jumped out of the bedroom window and ran.

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