ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal Tuesday from a Lyft driver serving a 35-year prison sentence for raping a passenger in Cobb County.
Jerome Booze was convicted by a jury after prosecutors said he raped a 20-year-old passenger who was too intoxicated to consent. In his appeal, Booze raises the same arguments he made at trial, contending the sexual encounter was initiated by the passenger and that she did not appear intoxicated.
“She came on to me,” Booze argues in court filings.
Booze also contends Georgia’s rape statute is unconstitutionally vague. He argues the law improperly relies on what he calls “the subjective standards of what ‘too drunk to consent’ means,” and claims he had no way of knowing he could be prosecuted for having sex with someone who, he says, initiated the encounter.
Booze maintains the passenger invited him into the backseat of the car and did not seem drunk at the time. The victim has acknowledged she does not remember much about the encounter.
Cobb County prosecutors dispute Booze’s claims, arguing it has long been the law in Georgia that a person can be too intoxicated to consent to sex. They point to evidence presented at trial, including testimony that the woman vomited twice and appeared unsteady while walking.
Prosecutors say whether the victim was capable of consenting was a question for the jury, which ultimately voted to convict Booze.
The Georgia Supreme Court will now consider the appeal.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.