Man charged for sex with wife

[keith6601 0]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8716780/

 

 

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 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.”

 

Kansas law labeled ‘ridiculous’

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.

 

‘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 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.

 

So he had sex with the girl...nothing. He got her pregnant...nothing. He did the right thing and married her...nothing. He slept with his legal wife...oh hell no you cant do that. I can understand the charge and all, but why the hell wait so long to do something about it.

[SuperJerk 0]

I'm taking a totally different position on this.

 

Nebraska has the right not to recognize the marriage, especially since the girl is 4 years below the minimum age requirement.

 

They should have stayed in Kansas. Better yet, her parents should've had him arrested instead of giving them permission to get married.

[CanadianChris 0]

Honestly, I don't know what to think. The guy's a scumbag that deserves to go to jail, but given they at least made an effort to do right by the baby, I don't see how the father going to jail helps anything.

[Ced 0]

Can't really fault the guy for attempting to do the right thing in a wrong situation.

 

It's going to be an interesting case since nobody involved would really benefit if he gets locked up.

[yankovic fan 0]

I thought he would be protected under the full faith and credit clause of the constitution?

[SuperJerk 0]

I thought he would be protected under the full faith and credit clause of the constitution?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm sure Justice can answer that better than I could, but there are limitations on just how much that clause covers.

[Jingus 0]

I think it comes down to this: is punishing this man for his crimes more important than following the actual law (not to mention locking up a baby's father simply for fathering the baby)?

 

Fucking and marrying a 13-year-old is stupid and wrong, but I also don't see how him going to jail would help anything, especially since technically he really hasn't committed the crime they're charging him with.

[cbacon 0]

What is the age of consent in Kansas? Most US States?

 

Edit: Google tells me it's 16. But yeah, based on the technicality of the situation, it seems silly to jail him.

[SuperJerk 0]

In most states its also illegal to take a minor across state lines.

[keith6601 0]

Her mother gave permission to get married in Kansas so I don't see anything coming from taking her across state lines.

 

The authorities look like complete morons here. The girl got pregnant, how much more evidence do you need to press charges against him then. Why wait to see what happens or whatever they were waiting for? Now the guy is going to take care of the child and they decide that it's better to put him in jail so the support falls on the girl's mother since there is no way in hell that a 14 year old is supporting a newborn child on her own.

[SuperJerk 0]

Now the guy is going to take care of the child and they decide that it's better to put him in jail so the support falls on the girl's mother since there is no way in hell that a 14 year old is supporting a newborn child on her own.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

At her age, it is her parents who must take care of her.

 

 

I'll agree the Nebraska authorities may end up looking like fools, as its not like the girl or her parents are going to press charges for statutory rape.

[teke184 0]

In most states its also illegal to take a minor across state lines.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

True, true... Technically, it can be argued that he brought a minor across state lines for the purposes of having sex with her, so that makes it a violation of white slavery acts.

 

The applicable federal act is, IIRC, the Mann Act, which is what Charlie Chaplin was either charged with or threatened with at one point because he really liked young poonani.

[RepoMan 0]

I don't see the logic that geting her married was the right thing. I don't think a lot of pepole will argue a 13 is competant enough to decide on who they're going to marry. Her parents are way fucked up, and as some one who knows very little about the legaility of this but I hope the state takes custidity.

[Ace309 0]

The article doesn't seem to make clear whether he's being charged for the initial rape - hey, let's call it what it is - that led to the pregnancy, or for relations he had with his "wife" after the "marriage."

 

In any case, Nebraska's law doesn't make an exception for spousal relations. It's first-degree sexual assault if one person is 19 or over and the other is 16 or under, and a sexual assault of a child (or some such, I don't recall the exact title) if one is 19 or over and the other is 14 or under.

 

It's also demeaning to real marriages to refer to this using the same terms. Legally, yes, it is, and if there are exceptions to child-rape laws that apply to spousal relations (which in this case there are not), then they would without a doubt apply here. However, this is clearly not the sort of relationship that can be fairly equated to the sort of marriage that most people envision, or even to the "Anna Nicole Smith"-type marriages where one party is clearly just in it to exploit the other. At least in those cases the participants can be presumed to understand the consequences of what's going on.

 

Here, we have a child who was raped, and her vindication is being married to a pedophile.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

This is a grown ass man fucking a child. Lock him up. Lock up the consenting parents, too.

[Darthtiki 0]

Other than the guy being a piece of shit pedophile and such, wait I can't defend him. My only hope is that they lock his ass up, the dumbassed back water hick parents too and make sure that they get that hard ass busted back bench on the broken down bus to hell. Secondly, they need to tighten up that law by a couple years, because this isn't the 1800's when the life expectancy was lower.

[Carnival 0]

They should have stayed in Kansas. Come to Nebraska and we'll find a way to lock you up. At least they weren't smoking in a city park or something, they'd be dead right now.

[Ace309 0]

And the bastard pleads guilty:

 

FALLS CITY, Nebraska (AP) -- A 22-year-old man faces up to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to sexual assault charges filed after he impregnated and then married a 14-year-old girl.

 

Matthew Koso legally married the girl in Kansas after she became pregnant. The girl, 14-year-old Crystal Koso, gave birth August 24 to a girl, Samara.

 

Sentencing was set for February 7. [...]

 

I'm glad to see this resolved by a plea and not going to trial. There's something about that whole 'sanctity of marriage between a rapist and his child bride' nonsense that makes me not trust a jury to see this for what it is.

[Ravenbomb 0]

...I think my brain is bleeding...

[2GOLD 0]

KANSAS: We like em young

[Slayer 0]

One time, my g/f called me a pedophile... I said "What the fuck do you know? You're twelve."

[Ted the Poster 0]

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

As long as our jokes are in poor taste

 

...I think my brain is bleeding...

 

Probably not as bad as the 14 year old, though.

[Sideburnious 0]

With a name like Crystal, i think it's safe to assume this is some sort of trailerpark trash family, that were probably underage when they got married and thats why they consented.

 

And while the guy was a fucking idiot, he was only 22. He wasn't in his 40's or anthing. I'd say it was a bad decision gone wrong. The fact that he was willing to marry her etc, doesn't really give him the profiling of a pedophile or a sexual predator. He was probably just a virign looking for some ass that fucked up.

[2GOLD 0]

With a name like Crystal, i think it's safe to assume this is some sort of trailerpark trash family, that were probably underage when they got married and thats why they consented.

 

And while the guy was a fucking idiot, he was only 22. He wasn't in his 40's or anthing. I'd say it was a bad decision gone wrong. The fact that he was willing to marry her etc, doesn't really give him the profiling of a pedophile or a sexual predator. He was probably just a virign looking for some ass that fucked up.

 

Isn't she 13 now?

No, she's not. But he's still the ped crowd, it's still below that 15 year old line.

Edited December 14, 2005 by 2GOLD

[Sideburnious 0]

Oh, I know he's going to go to jail, and feel deserves to for what he's done. I just think that they are trying to make him like this hardcore pedophile rather than what seems to me like some loser who got busted for having underage sex.

[Slayer 0]

Oh, I know he's going to go to jail, and feel deserves to for what he's done.

That guy had's ahad no class

[Failed Bridge 0]

If he was on the CornHuskers football team then none of this would be a problem.

[Sideburnious 0]

Oh, I know he's going to go to jail, and feel deserves to for what he's done.

That guy had's ahad no class

 

Somebody get me this for xmas:

 

[Slayer 0]

Aren't you British, too?