Opinion ID: 2136353
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Challenge to entire statute.

Text: Here the defendant was charged only under sub. (1) of sec. 944.30, Stats., and not under sub. (2). Sub. (1) refers to offering or having nonmarital sexual intercourse for any thing of value [1] and sub. (2) speaks of committing acts of sexual perversion for any thing of value. [2] Thus it is obvious that the defendant has been charged under a distinctive section of the statute not dependent for its application on the second part. However, the structure of the subsections is identical except for the actions proscribed. If part (1) is unconstitutional, part (2) is necessarily also unconstitutional. Thus the entire statute would be wholly void, and it is contended that the statute is unconstitutional on its face. In State v. I, A WomanPart II, [3] a party was allowed to challenge the constitutionality of a statute entitled Declaratory judgments against obscene matter. In that case this court found that constitutional questions appeared upon the face of the statute and that first amendment freedoms were such that a litigant could raise the issue even though he had not personally been deprived of constitutional rights by application of the statute directly to him. We conclude that the defendant can challenge the entire statute and not just the section under which she was charged because it is argued that the statute appears facially unconstitutional and if the constitutional attack is successful the entire statute would be void. The feature which is challenged pervades the entire statute and the subsections are not separable. The criticism of the statute is that the law denies the defendant equal protection by making it a crime for a female to offer to have nonmarital sexual intercourse for a thing of value, whereas this statute does not make it a crime for a male to make a similar offer.