Married Teen gives birth amid legal row...

[towski]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9108399/

LINCOLN, Neb. - A 14-year-old girl whose 22-year-old husband is charged with sexually assaulting a minor has given birth to their daughter, and the man said he plans to plead not guilty in the case.

The girl became pregnant when she was 13, and her mother gave permission in May for Matthew Koso to take her daughter to Kansas to marry.

Nebraska requires people to be at least 17 before they can marry. But Kansas does not have a minimum age as long as both parents or guardians approve or the marriage is approved by a judge, said a spokesman for Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

[HAVOC451]

Not too many years ago this kind of thing wouldn't have raised so much as an eyebrow. The marriage is legal in Kansas and the Attorney General of Nebraska admitts that it is valid. I thought all the states were obliged to honor legal marriages from other states. It seems like this AG is grandstanding for political gain while ripping a (very) young family to shreds.

[Ed Sane]

That man should be shot.

edit:

Multiple times

[towski]

Not too many years ago this kind of thing wouldn't have raised so much as an eyebrow. The marriage is legal in Kansas and the Attorney General of Nebraska admitts that it is valid. I thought all the states were obliged to honor legal marriages from other states. It seems like this AG is grandstanding for political gain while ripping a (very) young family to shreds.

The marriage may be legal in Kansas, but it took place AFTER a 21 year old man impregnated a 13 year old girl....

[HAVOC451]

The time to arrest the guy was long ago. What good is it to arrest him now? Where was the girl's mother nine months ago? Why didn't the girl's mother have the guy arrested as soon as she found out her daughter was pregnant? Is the situation outrageous? Sure it is. How does arresting the guy make anything better at this point?

[Ed Sane]

All crimes must have punishment or else you are encouraging others to break it...Everything you do in life you will be held accountable for...He may have tried making ammends by marrying the women but that still doesnt make him or anyone else above the law and he should pay dearly for his problem..

[towski]

The time to arrest the guy was long ago. What good is it to arrest him now? Where was the girl's mother nine months ago? Why didn't the girl's mother have the guy arrested as soon as she found out her daughter was pregnant? Is the situation outrageous? Sure it is. How does arresting the guy make anything better at this point?

He's a 21 year old man that impregnated a 13 year old girl. Is there a statute of limitations on that? 13! 13! She was 13! That, by the way, is the 7th or 8th grade. He is old enough to buy beer. He had sex with a 13 year old.

Yea, he tried to do the right thing and marry her. But he had sex with a 13 year old. I really don't know what the right answer is here, but I can't be glib about a 21 year old having sex with a 13 year old. It's pedophelia. It's child molestation. It's sexual assault.

[HAVOC451]

All crimes must have punishment or else you are encouraging others to break it...Everything you do in life you will be held accountable for...He may have tried making ammends by marrying the women but that still doesnt make him or anyone else above the law and he should pay dearly for his problem..
Ok, there's logic to that, so who pays to support the girl and the infant? And speaking of the girl (and the infant), does it matter what they want?

[towski]

Ok, there's logic to that, so who pays to support the girl and the infant? And speaking of the girl (and the infant), does it matter what they want?

Actually, legally speaking, I don't think it does matter what she wants. She's 14 years old. Not the age of consent, not the age at which one is legally entitled to make ones own decisions.

[HAVOC451]

Actually, legally speaking, I don't think it does matter what she wants. She's 14 years old. Not the age of consent, not the age at which one is legally entitled to make ones own decisions.
Yet, if she had shot the guy dead for getting her pregnant she could be charged and tried for murder as an adult.

[towski]

Yet, if she had shot the guy dead for getting her pregnant she could be charged and tried for murder as an adult.


Hmmmm, maybe. She might also have been sentenced to 10 years in a juvenile facility and had her record expunged upon release. Not all youth murderers are tried as adults...

[HAVOC451]

Hmmmm, maybe. She might also have been sentenced to 10 years in a juvenile facility and had her record expunged upon release. Not all youth murderers are tried as adults...
That would be why I used the words could be.

[towski]

That would be why I used the words could be.

So she COULD be tried as an adult. That, too, is up to the state, not to her.

The fact that she could be tried as an adult no more makes her one than the fact that she consented to have sex with an adult.

[HAVOC451]

She seems to be getting the ugly end of the stick all around.

[towski]

She seems to be getting the ugly end of the stick all around.

I certainly do agree with that.

[towski]

UPDATE:

LINCOLN, Neb. - A 14-year-old girl whose 22-year-old husband is charged with sexually assaulting a minor has given birth to their daughter, and the man said he plans to plead not guilty in the case.

The girl became pregnant when she was 13, and her mother gave permission in May for Matthew Koso to take her daughter to Kansas to marry.

Nebraska requires people to be at least 17 before they can marry. But Kansas does not have a minimum age as long as both parents or guardians approve or the marriage is approved by a judge, said a spokesman for Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9108399/

[The Big Bog]

Saw this story on ABC's erudite "20/20" show a couple weeks ago. (Don't ask--Tivo picked it up and when I saw it was a trashy sex story I couldn't resist, 'kay?)

I'm sorry to report both these kids are dumber than dirt and as a consequence I was unable to congeal any kind of well-formed political or sociological opinion about this kind of relationship because I just thought the two were kind of sad and pathetic.

I mean, when the girlfriend said she fell head over heels in love with the guy because of his superb impersonation of Elmo from "Sesame Street," I just couldn't watch any further.