Page 7 - Zacks Future News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> his charge is second-degree sexual assault of a child. there's only two things that the state has to prove, and that's 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 she's very young -- zack's really young too, even though he's treated as an adult because he's 17 years old. >> the prosecution is arguing that zack took advantage of his age and popularity to pressure a younger ...

Because i know there's other people in school having sex with people. i'm 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 couldn't agree to have sex with zack. on top of that, her interviews with police paint a complicated story of that september night. >> how does all this make you feel? >> i feel like a bad person. >> why do you feel like a bad person? >> i wanted to wait for a long term relatio...

>> zack's defense attorney had attempted to negotiate a plea to reduce zack's charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. but the state prosecutor refused. the night before zack's case goes to trial, travis prepares zack and his mother, carrie, for what to expect. >> probably the first or second question the prosecutor is going to ask you is, zack, you had sex with [ bleep ], didn't you? and what is your answer to that? >> yes. >> and because that's the truth, right? >> yes. >> remember one of the things that we talked about that might help you with relaxing and being more calm up on the witness st...

>> he did. he kept talking about it, telling me i was going to be fine. and i kept saying i don't know. and then we walked upstairs to my aunts and he picked me up and carried me to my aunt's room. >> was there anything else that he did physically to you during this encounter? >> no. >> i don't have any other questions. >> krcross. >> thank you, your honor. your mom and dad tell you all of the time that they're very proud of you. >> yes. >> and that makes you feel good. >> yes. >> and you knew when they found out that you had sex with zack you were going to get into trouble that you couldn't e...

All happened. >> do you think that as a freshman who was kind of in awe of you she might have felt pressured by you? >> she might have but i didn't mean to pressure her at all. >> what did you think when you left? >> that we would continue talking and everything was going to be okay. ten days later the cops showed up at my house. >> you have the right to remain silent. anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. >> they put me in the holding cell for about three hours. i was nervous and didn't really know what was going on. >> you think it was okay to have sex with a 1...