Posted on 12/15/2005 7:16:37 AM PST by Dan Evans
FALLS CITY, Neb. - A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a sexual assault charge filed after he impregnated and then married a 14-year-old girl, and he could face up to 50 years in prison.
Matthew Koso legally married the girl in Kansas, which has no minimum age for marriage, after she became pregnant. The girl, Crystal Koso, now 15, gave birth Aug. 24 to a 7-pound, 1-ounce girl named Samara.
Nebraska, however, requires people to be at least 17 before they can marry and prohibits people 19 or older from having sex with anyone under age 16.
Koso had pleaded not guilty in August. As he left the courtroom with his wife, he would not say why he changed his plea.
The Associated Press generally avoids naming victims of sexual assault, but the couple has spoken freely about the charges, and the girl's name has been widely reported.
His attorney, Willis Yoesil, said he believed possible Koso could be sentenced to probation. He would not say why he advised Koso to change his plea.
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said his office would not make a recommendation to the judge about Koso's sentence.
Sentencing was set for Feb. 7. The judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation, which would include an evaluation of Koso's mental capacity.
Bruning filed first-degree sexual assault charges against Koso in July and a trial was scheduled to begin Thursday.
Bruning, who was criticized by some for pursuing the case given that the sex was consensual and the couple eventually married, defended his decision.
"The law clearly states that it is illegal for a grown man to have sex with a child," he said.
Assistant Attorney General Matt Enenbach said Tuesday that evidence would show that Koso had sex with Crystal when she was 13.
After the girl became pregnant, her mother gave permission for Koso to take her daughter across the state line to Hiawatha, Kan. There is no minimum age for marriage in Kansas, but state law requires anyone under 18 to have permission to marry from both parents, a guardian or a judge.
Koso's lawyer, Yoesil, has said the girl's mother and Koso's parents approved of the marriage. The girl's father has not lived with the family for some time.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently said she was asking legislators to establish a strict ban on marriage involving anyone younger than 16. The governor said the legislation also should retain the requirement for parental or judicial consent for anyone age 16 or 17.
Something the pedophile-defenders keep ignoring. Guh. Sickening.
The bride is not pressing charges. Her parents are for the marriage but the state still prosecutes him.
This is a victimless crime.
It's okay with liberals if schools teach pre-teen kids how to use condoms or that homosexuality behavior is to be respected. They want young girls to have abortion on demand without parental consent. But god forbid that anyone under 16 should get married,
Right. But if Ruthy got her way, it wouldn't even be a crime.
So is building a nuclear bomb. Should we have a law against that? :)
If the government can do it, why can't I?
I know where you can mail-order some primo uranium out of Niger. Just tell them to mark it "medical supplies".
I actually agree with Sebelius on something. I don't suppose that will ever happen again.
50 years ago, most folks would have agreed that he loved her and 'did the right thing' by marrying her and given the couple a chance to make a go of their marriage.
Marriage would have wiped out any criminality. The child would have had a legal father, responsible for the child's welfare, and the young mother wouldn't have had to rely on her own resoures.
Is this criminal outcome a better solution?
What about the girl? Did she want to get married or not?
I'm just wondering if the girl wanted to be married...Nothing in the article states that the girl did or didn't want to be married.
Thanks for reposting this!
Who filed this complaint to bring these charges about?
Why is the governor getting involved???
An interesting "full faith and credit" problem, at least.
prolife ping
Since the sex was apparently consensual, I'd say the odds are that the girl thought she was in love with the guy.
Whether or not she will maintain that feeling over years of marriage is another story. On an anectdotal level, I know of one couple that had to get married in my high school as freshmen have had a great marriage for more than fifty years. They will tell you today that they were more determined to make a go of it because of all the naysayers who said it would never last.
Nothing at all, except that she married the guy.
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