Idaho teacher who had sex with teen found not guilty of rape

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – A south-central Idaho teacher who told police he knowingly had sex with an underage girl has been found not guilty of rape.

Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs tells the Times-News that the jury’s decision on Wednesday to find 40-year-old Jason Benjamin not guilty of raping the teenager “staggering.”

The jury foreman says the 12-member panel unanimously concluded the sex was consensual and did not meet their definition of rape because Benjamin did not physically force himself on the girl.

Benjamin was charged with rape under an Idaho law that applies when the victim is 16 or 17 years old, and the perpetrator is at least three years older.

Loebs says juries are supposed to decide if a law was broken, not whether it’s a wise or unwise law.