Cheat on your spouse in Michigan and spend life in prison?

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

DETROIT, United States (AFP) - Philanderers beware: spouses caught cheating in Michigan could end up spending the rest of their life in prison.

And not the emotional kind.

The state's appeals court recently ruled that extramarital flings can be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in jail.

"We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion."

"Technically," he added, "any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I," the most serious sexual assault charge in the state's criminal code.

Michigan still lists adultery as a felony, although no one has been convicted of the offense since 1971.

Nobody really expects prosecutors to go after cheating spouses. But the ruling has the local legal community twittering about its genuine intended target.

One theory floating around the courthouse is that the judges were taking a jab at the state Supreme Court, which has decreed that judges must interpret statutory language adopted by the Legislature literally, whatever the consequences.

Many other states allow judges to reject a literal interpretation if they believe it would lead to an absurd result.

Judge Murphy wrote that he encouraged "the Legislature to take a second look at the statutory language if they are troubled by our ruling."

A spokesman for the attoney general, who publicly admitted to adultery in November, declined to say whether they would press for legislative amendments to make it clear that only violent felonies involving an unwilling victim could trigger a first-degree CSC charge.

"This is so bizarre that it doesn't even merit a response," Rusty Hill said.

The appeals court decision involved a man convicted of trading prescription painkillers for sex.

In an attempt to increase his jail time, prosecutors used an obscure provision of the state's criminal law to charge him with criminal sexual conduct, which occurs whenever "sexual penetration occurs under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony."

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[Fandango 1,439]

absurd!

[Jasman0717 9]

This is retarded!

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Great idea! Get the scumbags off the streets and out of our beds!

[Fandango 1,439]

Great idea! Get the scumbags off the streets and out of our beds!

please tell me you're joking?

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

Great idea! Get the scumbags off the streets and out of our beds!

i have to wonder if they will wind up on the sexual deviants list too

[Savanphil 3]

This would make a great "scared straight" program.

[diadromous mermaid 36]

Ah yes, but it's not only Michigan that could cause issues.

The United States inherited English common law, which made adultery, as well as fornication (sex between unmarried people) and sodomy (oral and ####### sex), punishable crimes. In the mid and late 19th centuries, when states wrote their criminal codes, they incorporated these sex laws. Twenty-six states continue to have anti-adultery laws on the books. These laws vary considerably. Some define adultery as any intercourse outside marriage. According to others, it occurs when a married person lives with someone other than his or her spouse. In West Virginia and North Carolina, simply "to lewdly and lasciviously associate" with anyone other than one's spouse is to be adulterous.

Is a single person in an adulterous relationship guilty of adultery?

All but seven states punish both people involved. Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Utah only punish the married person. In the District of Columbia and in Michigan, when a married man sleeps with an unmarried woman, only the man is guilty, but when a married woman sleeps with an unmarried man, they're both guilty. Most laws make no exceptions for couples who are separated or in the process of obtaining a divorce. Punishments also vary. Adultery is a felony in Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Idaho, and a misdemeanor everywhere else.

How widespread is adultery?

Alfred Kinsey's famous 1948 survey of American sexual behavior found that seven out of 10 men had cheated on their wives. More accurate, more recent research shows that the prevalence of adultery is not as high. A survey taken two years ago by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center shows that slightly more than 11 percent of women and 21 percent of men admitted to having an adulterous affair during their lives.

From, http://www.slate.com/id/1063/

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

In West Virginia and North Carolina, simply "to lewdly and lasciviously associate" with anyone other than one's spouse is to be adulterous.

i wonder if that can be applied to talking dirty in a chat room

[Lovetoteach 53]

Wow my ex should by that standing be in prison then. I'm just glad he's out of my life that's enough for me.

[Henia 11]

LOL I will forward this article to my husband ... I live in Michigan

[Alanlvsjudy 0]

Hmmph, life in prison seems like a lenient sentence compared with staying with my ex...

No I didn't cheat, but it could've been a way out, had I lived in Michigan...