Court Successfully Upholds Appeal of Former Harvard Dental School Student Convicted of Rape

The reversal of a former Harvard Dental School student’s rape conviction was upheld by the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court on Friday, according to the Associated Press.

Martin Urban, who was charged with the rape of another dental student in 2004, successfully appealed his case in 2006 in part because the presiding judge had not given the jury a clear explanation about the standards used to determine whether an individual is too intoxicated to consent to sex.

The court, in supporting the State Appeals Court’s decision to overturn Urban’s conviction, agreed that the standard language used to inform juries about a victim’s ability to consent can be misleading, the AP reported.

The new ruling—which covered both Urban’s case and a related one— requires that prosecutors offer explicit proof that a defendant was aware of a victim’s inability to consent.

Urban has been granted a new trial, although the date has yet to be set, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney, according to the AP.

Urban, who allegedly committed the crime after a night of drinking with his friends, was initially sentenced to four to six years in prison. Since 2006, he has been out on bail, having served two years of his original sentence.