Kwame Kilpatrick Could Have Gotten Life In Prison (Strange Michigan Law)

Upon reading about a scandal in another state, I found a quote that stated that adultery could lead to life imprisonment, and was surprised to see "Michigan" in parenthesis. I always thought we were a pretty progressive and forward thinking state, despite our short falls. Upon reading more on this, I was even more surprised when I learned that this was a fairly recent ruling [[2005), and not the result of an outdated law.

It appears that there was a 2005 ruling that concluded a first-degree CSC charge [[the most serious sexual related charge) could be justified when consensual sex occurred in conjunction with any felony. In Michigan [[and those involved in the ruling were supposedly aware of this) adultery is of course a felony. Therefore, the supreme court has ruled that a life sentence could be applied to adultery.

A link discussing the case; http://web.archive.org/web/200702061...OL04/701150333

Guess he's fortunate that his indiscretions occurred prior to this law!

When the Attorney General for the state is an admitted adulterer, it's no surprise that the law isn't enforced.

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Originally Posted by Novine

When the Attorney General for the state is an admitted adulterer, it's no surprise that the law isn't enforced.

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LOL.
Dumb law, though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fryar

LOL.
Dumb law, though.

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When Moses came down from the top of the mountain, he said to the Children of Israel:

"I have good news and I have bad news."

"The good news is that I bargained Him down to ten."

"The bad news is that adultery is still in."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hermod

When Moses came down from the top of the mountain, he said to the Children of Israel:

"I have good news and I have bad news."

"The good news is that I bargained Him down to ten."

"The bad news is that adultery is still in."

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Kinda reminds me of the Mel Brooks movie where he played Moses...

"And God has given you these fifteen [[tablet slips out of his hands and falls into a thousand pieces)... er, TEN commandments!"

I remember from my time in law school something called the "merger rule" in criminal law, which prevents someone from being convicted of two offenses if it is logically impossible to commit them separately [[e.g. someone who murders another cannot be convicted of assault and murder, since murder by its very nature constitutes an assault.) I imagine that the merger rule would apply to any CSC1 + adultery prosecution; since 1st degree CSC consists of sexual intercourse while committing a felony, and the felony of adultery is itself sexual intercourse, its impossible to ever commit adultery without committing CSC 1.

And this is beside the fact that Lawrence v. Texas. the U.S. Supreme Court case that stuck down sodomy laws, at least strongly suggests that adults have a constitutionally protected right to engage in consensual sex in privacy, and laws banning such conduct are unconstitutional.