Q2 reports that a jury found 22-year-old Tristan Morales guilty Thursday of raping a young girl in April of 2017, despite his claim that he only touched her inappropriately.

Morales was convicted in Yellowstone County District Court of one count of sexual intercourse without consent. The jury deliberated for just over two hours before reaching their verdict. During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Morales went online and researched penalties for sexual crimes, after committing the salacious act.

The prosecutor contended that Morales learned that sexual touching was not enough to constitute intercourse without consent, so he crafted his story around an admission that he only touched the girl inappropriately. Though the victim told investigators she was raped in 2017, Morales claimed he molested her in 2012 when he was 17, believing that would subject him to juvenile charges.

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