Kaitlyn Hunt Rejects Plea Deal In Underage Same-Sex Case

Florida teen Kaitlyn Hunt is facing felony charges for a sexual relationship she had with a younger girl, and has turned down the plea deal offered by the state attorney.

With the plea deal, 18-year-old Hunt would have been placed on house arrest for two years, labeled a convicted felon, and be required to attend sex offender counseling.

By rejecting the plea deal, Hunt will now appear in court to face two charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a minor, which could put her in jail for 15 years as well as automatic registration as a sex offender.

“This is a situation of two teenagers who happen to be of the same sex involved in a relationship,” Hunt’s attorneys said in a statement. “If this case involved a boy and girl, there would be no media attention to this case.”

But attorneys representing the minor and her family say that it’s merely a matter of the law.

“This is a violation of the law that’s based upon an adult having sexual relations with a minor,” Charles Sullivan said in an interview with TODAY. “Gender, sexual orientation of the parties has absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution.”

Hunt’s arrest has caused critics, including her own parents, to argue that the state is only pursuing such harsh punishment on the teen because she was in a homosexual relationship. Her mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, also believes that the parents of her daughter’s former girlfriend, 15, have a bigoted agenda.

“They are out to destroy my daughter, because they feel like she ‘made’ their daughter gay. They see being gay as wrong and they blame my daughter. Of course, I see it 100% differently. I don’t see or label these girls as gay. They are teenagers in high school experimenting with their sexuality – with mutual consent. And even if their daughter is gay, who cares? She is still their daughter.”

Hunt’s case has seen a groundswell of support on social media, with a “Free Kate” Facebook page now boasting nearly 50,000 members.

It was previously thought that Kaitlyn Hunt began her relationship with the minor while she was 17-years-old. The state attorney says that the relationship began when she was 18.

What do you think of Kaitlyn Hunt’s case? Should she have accepted the plea deal, or does she have a chance to beat the case against her? Sound off!