TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A fired Kansas prison employee accused of sexual misconduct claims the charges aren’t valid because state law cites consensual touching and he is accused of nonconsensual touching.

Tomas Co is charged with five felony counts of unlawful sexual relations. The crime is defined as “engaging in consensual sexual intercourse, lewd fondling or touching or sodomy” between a corrections employee and an offender.

Co’s attorney, Christopher Joseph, argues in a brief that the charges don’t fit the statute’s definition because witnesses testified that the incidents weren’t consensual. Joseph adds that he believed that Co would be acquitted at trial regardless of the charge filed.

The Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office disagreed with the defense’s interpretation of the law, saying it “would lead to an absurd result.”