ADAMS’ TROUBLES MOUNTING
‘I’m sure he’s lawyering up right now,’ law professor says of popular singer-songwriter
In the wake of a LOS ANGELES bombshell New York Times article in which multiple women accuse Ryan Adams of sexual misconduct — allegations Adams has denied — the question arises of how much legal trouble the singer may now be in.
The allegations fall short of sexual assault: Seven women, including ex-wife singer and actress Mandy Moore, and more than a dozen other associates describe “a pattern of manipulative behaviour in which Adams dangled career opportunities while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex,” the article alleges.
“Music was a point of control for him,” Moore said.
But far more problematic is the accusation that Adams exposed himself sexually during a video call with an underage girl who allegedly had lied about her age. That woman, now 20, provided the Times with thousands of text messages she says she exchanged with Adams when she was underage.
“i would get in trouble if someone knew we talked like this,” Adams wrote to her in November 2014, when he was about 40 years old and she was 15 or 16. “If people knew they would say I was like R Kelley lol,” he wrote later.
R&B singer R. Kelly is another musician who has been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour, some of it involving minors.
“It’s premature to say that any specific charges would be filed because many details in the article are vague,” Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles said. “But solicitation of sex from a minor is certainly one possible charge. It depends on whether he believed she was underage.”
Shortly after the article published, Adams tweeted, “The picture that this article paints is upsettingly inaccurate. Some of its details are misrepresented; some are exaggerated; some are outright false. I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage. Period.”
Adams and the girl, referenced only as “Ava,” engaged in multiple sexually oriented texts and Skype sessions when she a minor, the article alleges. Adams asked her age repeatedly. Sometimes she lied, sometimes she didn’t answer, but she never provided him with proof.
“It depends on whether he believed she was underage,” Levenson says. “A prosecutor could argue that he thought she was underage and that’s why he kept asking, but a defence attorney would say no, he asked because he didn’t want to be involved” with an underage girl.
Defence lawyer Anthony Salerno says, “He could be on the hook for (illegal) contact with a minor if prosecutors thought it was ‘intentional blindness’ regarding her age, or a ruse to create the appearance that he didn’t know when he really did — like he was trying too hard to make himself look good,” he said.
Referring to a separate incident recounted in the article, in which Adams allegedly invited a woman to his hotel room and answered the door nude, Salerno says, “Exposing himself when answering the door is a crime also, and a registerable sex offence, but the statute of limitations has probably run out.”
Laws regarding sexually oriented digital communication with a minor vary from state to state in the U.S. Ava lived in Ohio at the time, where it is a felony to “solicit, exchange or possess any material that shows a person under 18 engaging in sexual activity,” the article says. In New York, where Adams was located during many of the exchanges, the age is 17.
As for the women who were over the age of consent, “the question always comes down to whether the sex was voluntary,” Levenson says.
“It’s hard to tell whether it crosses line from abhorrent to criminal behaviour. It’s terrible conduct; it’s intimidation, but there’s no physical assault. But I understand why there is reason for concern and for investigation.”
As for the next steps, “There are two things at play,” Levenson says. “Whether New York authorities are investigating criminal behaviour, and if he’s soliciting underage girls on the internet. We’re seeing behaviour here that no one should condone, but if you’re going to court, you need more information than the article presents.
“I’m sure he’s lawyering up right now,” she says.