State Court Overturns Rape Conviction Over Arcane Law

State Court Overturns Rape Conviction Over Arcane Law: LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court overturned the rape conviction of a man who pretended to be a sleeping woman's boyfriend, ruling, in part, Wednesday that an arcane law from 1872 doesn't protect unmarried women in such cases. A panel of judges reversed the trial court's conviction of Julio Morales and remanded it for retrial, in a decision posted Wednesday from the Los Angeles-based court.