Have an affair; go to jail for life, in Michigan.
Interesting case, really. Lloyd Waltonen traded a waitress sexual favors for Oxycontin pills. That was a felony – giving her the drugs: “delivering a controlled substance”. But they also charged him with criminal sexual conduct, a major felony, under the section of law that says when “sexual penetration occurs under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony,” it’s a violation.
There were appeals back and forth about the CSC charge. Waltonen’s attorney got it dropped, but the prosecutor got it reinstated, based on the the drug transaction, arguing that any consent the waitress may have given was irrelevant due to the drugs being involved.
It made its way to the Court of Appeals, which reinstated the CSC charges, and also pointed out since adultery was still a felony in Michigan, anyone charged with adultery could also be charged with CSC, and thus marked as a felony sex offender.
Sounds like when the Michigan legislature made some changes to the sex crimes statutes, they didn’t do all the research they needed to do. I wonder, too, if there’s really a need for an adultery law on the books, even if it hasn’t been prosecuted for 35+ years.
Einstein once remarked that “For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.” I’d suggest that the same is true for laws that exist but aren’t enforced. Enforce them, or get them off the books, lest they be abused in some way.
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