Utah Senate President Stuart Adams is under fire after lawmakers, at his suggestion, changed state law to give prosecutors a lower‑level charge option for 18‑year‑old high school student who had sex with a 13‑year‑old.

An 18-year-old accused of having sex with a 13-year-old pleaded guilty to reduced charges after the law was changed.

In 2024, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Senator Stuart Adams changed the state’s consent laws after his 18-year-old relative was charged with four first-degree felonies for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The Republican president of Utah's Senate managed to change consent laws after a relative was accused of raping a 13-year-old. Newsweek reported a Salt Lake City Tribune piece that Senate President J.