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not anymore in wis.
Court: Wis. Law Bans Sex With Dead Bodies
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ― The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated sexual assault charges against three young men accused of digging up a corpse so one of them could have sex with it.
In a 5-2 decision, the court said Wisconsin law makes sex acts with dead people illegal.
The ruling reinstates third-degree attempted sexual assault charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 22. The charges carry a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
A circuit court judge and an appeals court had dismissed those charges, saying Wisconsin law does not ban sex with a corpse. Those decisions prompted some outrage and a push by a state lawmaker to change the law to ban conduct known as necrophilia.
Justice Patience Roggensack, writing a majority opinion with three other justices, said state law bans sexual intercourse with anyone who does not give consent "whether a victim is dead or alive at the time."
"A reasonably well-informed person would understand the statute to prohibit sexual intercourse with a dead person," she wrote.
Jefren Olsen, a public defender who represented Radke, called the decision dead wrong on the law, which he said was never intended to punish necrophilia.
"Obviously, the facts are rather notorious and not the easiest to deal with," he said. "I assume that had some impact."
Police say the three men went to a cemetery in Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman who had been killed the week before in a motorcycle crash.
Nicholas Grunke had seen an obituary photo of her and asked the others for help digging up her corpse so he could have sexual intercourse with it, prosecutors say.
Authorities say the men used shovels to reach her grave but were unable to pry the concrete vault open. They fled when a car drove into the cemetery and were eventually arrested.
The men were charged with attempted third-degree sexual assault and misdemeanor attempted theft charges. The case has been on hold as prosecutors appealed the dismissal of the assault charges.
In a dissent, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley called the conduct heinous and said it should be banned for public policy reasons. But she said lawmakers did not do that when they wrote the law in question in 1986.
She said the law was meant to allow prosecutors to bring sexual assault charges in rape-murder cases when they could not prove whether the victim was alive at the time of the rape.
Suzanne Edwards, a lawyer representing Nicholas Grunke, said she was disappointed in the decision. She said the men will be arraigned on the charges and have a chance to plead not guilty.
Court: Wis. Law Bans Sex With Dead Bodies
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ― The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated sexual assault charges against three young men accused of digging up a corpse so one of them could have sex with it.
In a 5-2 decision, the court said Wisconsin law makes sex acts with dead people illegal.
The ruling reinstates third-degree attempted sexual assault charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 22. The charges carry a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
A circuit court judge and an appeals court had dismissed those charges, saying Wisconsin law does not ban sex with a corpse. Those decisions prompted some outrage and a push by a state lawmaker to change the law to ban conduct known as necrophilia.
Justice Patience Roggensack, writing a majority opinion with three other justices, said state law bans sexual intercourse with anyone who does not give consent "whether a victim is dead or alive at the time."
"A reasonably well-informed person would understand the statute to prohibit sexual intercourse with a dead person," she wrote.
Jefren Olsen, a public defender who represented Radke, called the decision dead wrong on the law, which he said was never intended to punish necrophilia.
"Obviously, the facts are rather notorious and not the easiest to deal with," he said. "I assume that had some impact."
Police say the three men went to a cemetery in Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman who had been killed the week before in a motorcycle crash.
Nicholas Grunke had seen an obituary photo of her and asked the others for help digging up her corpse so he could have sexual intercourse with it, prosecutors say.
Authorities say the men used shovels to reach her grave but were unable to pry the concrete vault open. They fled when a car drove into the cemetery and were eventually arrested.
The men were charged with attempted third-degree sexual assault and misdemeanor attempted theft charges. The case has been on hold as prosecutors appealed the dismissal of the assault charges.
In a dissent, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley called the conduct heinous and said it should be banned for public policy reasons. But she said lawmakers did not do that when they wrote the law in question in 1986.
She said the law was meant to allow prosecutors to bring sexual assault charges in rape-murder cases when they could not prove whether the victim was alive at the time of the rape.
Suzanne Edwards, a lawyer representing Nicholas Grunke, said she was disappointed in the decision. She said the men will be arraigned on the charges and have a chance to plead not guilty.
that's what i was thinking!!!
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