Posted on 07/26/2005 2:08:42 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) 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 man's 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.''
He said the marriage is valid, thanks to the ``ridiculous'' Kansas law, ``but it doesn't matter. I'm 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.
Koso's lawyer, Willis Yoesel, said the girl's mother and Koso's parents approved of the marriage. He said the girl's father has not lived with the family for some time.
``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 don't 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.
Um, keeping a child molestor off the streets?
No jury in the history of the world is going to find the young man guilty.
The Prophet Mohammed (may the peace and blessings of Allaah the beneficient and merciful be upon him) married a 5 yr old, so why is this bad?
/s
Oddly in such cases, the male is always the age he is today. While the female is the age she was back when a crime is alledged.
This is bigger than a lot of people might think. If the marriage is upheld in Federal courts under full faith and credit, then gay marriages will have to be recognized over state lines. If not, then the poisonous gay marriage decisions will be held within the borders. This is worth watching.
No I could see a guilty verdict in Nebraska.
The jurors will be instructed on Nebraska law which evidently holds no exception for married couples.
I guess in Kansas it would be perfectly legal.
I guess he's being tried for the premarital sex, not postmarital.
I still doubt he'll be convicted, though.
To be blunt, I've seen some 13-year-old girls I *really* thought were a lot older. Early bloomers, a side effect of growth hormones, I dunno... just... damn. Good thing I'm chick repellant, or I'd'a been in trouble sometimes.
Put me on that jury and I bet I can convince them he is.
Of course, if it'd been my daughter, I'd be up on murder charges.
How long ago was it that 14 yo girls were married off? Here in the States?
I suppose they could have killed the baby, would that have been better?
I'm not sure 13 and 21 makes it any better.
No jury in the history of the world is going to find the young man guilty.
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One would think unless the DA can stack the jury with people like the poster above your post.
So9
Um, keeping a child molestor off the streets?
I don't know what is in the mind of an adult who wants to have sex with a child, but the culture seems to find it "O.K." Mary Kay Leturneau (sp?) is apparently marrying the father of her two youngest children who was 12 when they first became involved, and it is all perfectly legal. Very strange...
I'm familiar with a similar case, where a teenaged boy of legal age (just barely) served time for sexual assault, who then returned when both were of age and married the girl. They're just another couple now, and he's trying to get his name off the sexual offenders list. Should he get cut a break? The ages and age differences were similar to Romeo and Juliet.
We do have these early marriages in our frontier history. There should be some common sense applied here--
The sad thing is that if he'd have gotten her an abortion, there'd be no problem.
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