Page 5 - Zacks Future News Today

I have nothing further. >> according to the law in wisconsin, whether or not the alleged victim agreed to have sex does not matter. all the all the prosecutor must prove is that the victim was under 16. >> you knew she was under 16, right? >> yes. >> you knew she was 14? >> yes. >> she was a freshman at your high school where you were a senior? >> yes. >> and you had sexual intercourse with her? >> yes. >> i dont have anything else. >> no one disputes the facts. zack was 17 when he had sex with ...

So the age of consent to have sex and the age when someone is considered an adult varies from state to state and right now were in the state of wisconsin and were about to meet a young man who is facing felony criminal charges for having sex with a 14-year-old freshman when he was a 17-year-old senior in high school. >> all right, zack. here we go, man. lets go, zack. there we go. good job. >> this is 18-year-old zack. hes a high school senior and a member of his varsity cheerleading squad in th...

In wisconsin it is unlawful for a person over 16 to have sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old. you will hear that that is exactly what happened here. i will ask that you find him guilty because i will have proved that [ bleep ] was under the age of 16 at the time that this happened and that the defendant had sexual intercourse with her. >> thank you. counsel. >> in his opening statement travis refer to a string of texts between zack and the alleged victim. >> the evidence will sho...

Defender. so what is the status of zacks case right now? >> his charge is second degree sexual assault of a child. theres only two things that the state has to prove, and thats that there was sexual intercourse and that the girl was under the age of 16. people under the age of 16 cannot legally consent to sexual contact or sexual intercourse and the law is there to protect our kids. but i think as young as the girl is in this case, and shes very young, zack is really young too, even though hes t...

Will go to trial and hell be represented by a public defender. so what is the status of zacks case right now? >> his charge is second degree sexual assault of a child. theres only two things that the state has to prove, and thats that there was sexual intercourse and that the girl was under the age of 16. people under the age of 16 cannot legally consent to sexual contact or sexual intercourse and the law is there to protect our kids. but i think as young as the girl is in this case, and shes ve...

>> are you serious? >> so what have you been charged with? >> second degree sexual assault. of a child. >> and when you heard that, how did you feel? >> my heart dropped. i still think that this is all just a nightmare. >> when police came knocking, zack was home alone and waived his right to an attorney. an officer questioned him for ten minutes before booking him into milwaukees county jail where zack was finally allowed to call him mother, carey. >> tell me about how you found out about the i...

>> no. >> how do you know that? >> because a lot of people like to talk about it and like the word gets around a lot. because i know theres other people in school having sex with people. im just the one that got caught. >> by the time they graduate, an estimated 50% of american high schoolers have been sexually active. but in some states these encounters are crimes. because the age of consent in wisconsin is 16, the 14-year-old girl couldnt agree to have sex with zack. on top of that, her interv...

Are? >> yeah, being one out of four guys on the team, were well known from pep rallies and games. >> like a lot of teens, zack had big plans, going to college with a sports scholarship, then joining the military. but five months ago at the start of his senior year, zacks future took a detour when he began exchanging texts with a school meat, a 14-year-old freshman girl. did you guys ever interact in person? >> it was mostly on snapchat but we would say hi to each other in the halls and then we k...

Being accused of and arrested for. i immediately started crying. i broke down. >> how much prison or jail time is he facing potentially? >> it could be up to 40 years in prison and lifetime registry on the sex offender list. never in my wildest dreams did i think this would ever happen to one of my kids. >> for much of zacks life carey raised him as a single mom. as a kid zack struggled with bullying and depression. but things started looking up two years ago when he changed schools, joined the ...

So the age op consent to have sex and the age when someone is considered an adult varies from state to state and right now were in the state of wisconsin and were about to meet a young man who is facing felony criminal charges for having sex with a 14-year-old freshman when she was a 17-year-old senior in high school. >> all right, zack. here we go, man. lets go, zack. there we go. good job. >> this is 18-year-old zack. hes a high school senior and a member of his varsity cheerleading squad in t...