Quote:
Nebraska man charged for sex with wife, 13
Families support couple, but prosecutor calls union repugnant
LINCOLN, Neb. - A 22-year-old man faces criminal charges in Nebraska for having sex with an underage 13-year-old girl, although he legally married her in Kansas after she became pregnant.
The mans lawyer said the couple, with their families support, made a responsible decision to try to cope with the problem.
Matthew Koso, 22, was charged Monday with first-degree sexual assault, punishable by up to 50 years in prison. He was released on $7,500 bail pending an Aug. 17 preliminary hearing.
After the girl became pregnant, her mother gave permission in May for Koso to take the young woman to Kansas, which allows minors to get married with parental consent. The girl is now 14 and seven months pregnant.
The idea ... is repugnant to me, said Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning. These people made the decision to send their ... 14-year-old daughter to Kansas to marry a pedophile.
Kansas law labeled ridiculous
He said the marriage is valid, thanks to the ridiculous Kansas law, but it doesnt matter. Im not going to stand by while a grown man ... has a relationship with a 13-year-old now 14-year-old girl.Bruning, who has said he will seek a second term in 2006, has aggressively prosecuted sex crimes against children since he was elected in 2002
The couple were married in May by a judge in Hiawatha, Kan., just across the state line from Falls City.
Nebraska allows people as young as 17 to marry if they have parental consent.
Kansas law, however, sets no minimum marriage age, although case law sets the minimum age at 14 for boys and 12 for girls. The marriage must be approved by both parents or guardian, or by a district court judge, said Whitney Watson, spokesman for Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline. A judge also must approve if only one parent approves.
Kosos lawyer, Willis Yoesel, said the girls mother and Kosos parents approved of the marriage. He said the girls father has not lived with the family for some time.
The families are all united
It seems to me like they, as much as they could, made a responsible decision to try to cope with the problem, Yoesel said.The families are all united in this effort, Yoesel said. I dont know who is complaining. ... What benefit is there to anybody in the prosecution of this young man?
There was no comment from Koso, who does not have a listed telephone number.
Did the parents let the child willingly marry a "pedophile" OR does the marriage make the "sex" valid? What should happen? Is it rape? Is it consentual? Or is the prosecutor overstepping his boundaries?
Discuss.
In my eyes it's valid... They're husband and wife... Parent allowed it so... Yeah, I think it's fine...
Well... they got married AFTER she was pregnant...
I really dunno what to say on this, it's impossible to make judgement without knowing what the girl herself feels and wants, and we have any scope of her maturity level...
Damn the subject of paedophilia gets really really akward once they hit their teens.
It seems that the main problem here appears to be the law. They should change the law so that the legal age of sexual consent is the same as that of marriage, which should be at least 16. The case in the UK being that sex between a man and a woman is acceptable as long as both are 16 or over, marriage of 16 year olds requires parental/guardian permission. Underage sex and marriage (i.e. under 16) is against the law.
It's illegal to have sex with minors. Marriage makes sex moral not legal.
Or am I missing something?
This is simply dreadful. The mother is to blame as much as the guy.
She is ALLOWING her daughter to get married. I expect it's so that the daughter doesn't have her baby out of wedlock.
Has anybody asked the girl what she wants? Doubt it. She may think she's in love, but she isn't old enough or mature enough to understand how much she has just ruined her own life.
Honestly, underage pregnancies are bad enough, but this is awful. I can't say whether the guy knew what he was doing, but 13 year olds don't look like 18 year olds unless they go to a LOT of effort.
This is the problem with America's states having different laws.
14 years old. It keeps kicking me in the head how dreadful the girl's life is going to be now.
God. That's just sick.
He married her after she became pregnant, which obviously indicates that they had sex before they married, which is not only illegal but immoral. He's 22; he has no business having a relationship with a 13 year old. Years down the line, the age difference doesn't make as big of a difference, but the girl is only 14, and now she has little chance of being able to enjoy her life and it would be difficult for her to continue an education.
Yes, in an older day and age, this union would be seen as perfectly normal. But we've since realized the mental and physical consequences of a 13 year old having a baby.
Yes, he didn't just run away; he did marry her. But you know, if you ask me, he only did it so he can continue having sex with a 13 year old 'legally'.
It was rape, no ands, ifs, or buts.
And some of the blame lies on the parents for not preventing this from happening in the first place, not to mention the fact that they condoned it afterward.
It's illegal and I could consider it rape if I knew more about the case. Whether or not they both consented, it seems like 13 is too young to make a reasonable decision about something that requires as much responsibility as sex does. I don't know if a jail sentence is the best idea though, if she's 13 and pregnant she's going to need some financial support and I'm sure her child would like to have some exposure to it's father.
Quote:
He married her after she became pregnant, which obviously indicates that they had sex before they married, which is not only illegal but immoral.
And? Didn't you claim in the MG to be having sex with your boyfriend, NOT your husband? I don't see the relevance to the topic.
Obviously you misunderstood me just now, so I'll clarify:
I was referring to the fact that them being married does not justify a 22 year old having sex with a 13 year old, ever. Legally and morally speaking, that's RAPE. I was NOT referring to pre-marital sex in general.
Interesting, for the bulk of human history 13 is prime marrying age for a woman, and 22 was considered middle age. It has only been recently that the average age of marrying has risen, following the average lifespan.
I know at least one woman who was in the same boat as this girl, and she doesn't regret her actions.
The difference in age is 9 years, which isn't altogether unheard of, and the reality of the situation is that their marriage is legal.
Jimro
While I don't morally condone having sex with 13 year olds, their marriage is legal.
I think that this Kansas law is immoral and it should be changed, but you can't charge someone for their actions prior to the revision. The harm has been done already, under an aegis of legality, and you can't change that. You can and should, however, say, "Your marriage is no longer legal as of tomorrow, until the girl turns 16/17/18/whatever." If that means he can't have sex with her a minute past midnight the day that new law is passed, so be it. The point is, he knows where the law stands regarding future action. However, the husband should not be prosecuted for past actions. Retroactive prosecution is a tactic that has been, and is, abused in oppressive regimes.
What you could also do is, you could argue that he moved to Kansas with the INTENT of performing an act he fully knew was illegal elsewhere, and prosecute him. For example, I know that crossing state borders with the INTENT on having sex with a minor is a felony. What I don't know is if that counts if in the place you're going to, having sex with a minor isn't a felony. *boggle*
No, the title is justified.
That fireball guy. You know. The one that tried to rule Graceland after Elvis went to war :O. He did the same thng. Gawd what was the signers name. He --JERRY LEWIS! Thank you. He married that girl even though she was 13 and was pregnant...O wait no. He just married her, then got her pregnanat. I take that back.
In any event, my point in this is that, like Jimro-the fact that the girl is 13 and is married is nothing new. That was the age as I remembered it. Even as the age seems to be rising, I think that it still is none of our buisness when they get married. Sure it may reflect a bad decision, but they're going to haev to learn from it. So I say "Go ahead" Get amrried young. Just dont come crying back to me hen it blows up in your face and you get all emotionally distraught over it.
But the mom is kinda to blame though. She's forcing her to do this since she's pregnant >>. I have no problem withteh age, its the notion of removing the girl's free will that I have the issue with.
