The new law no longer deems the rape of an unconscious person as a non-violent crime, which will impact sentencing and parole. It’s a change which Tonja Balden - one of the victims of Andrew Luster who drugged and raped multiple women at his home in Mussel Shoals - has been campaigning for.
"It's hard to believe that it ever was considered a nonviolent crime," Balden told KCLU.
She says she hopes it will help other victims of people like Luster.
"My whole motive was not to try and keep Andrew Luster behind bars, although that would be nice, but it was to correct the law so that if someone does drug a person and rape them, that's obviously a violent crime and it should be that way. It just makes a whole lot more sense," said Balden.
For more background on this story, check out KCLU’s podcast, the One Oh One.
