Court Opinion

ID: 9788323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:41:06.825695+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:08.060157
License: Public Domain

LEHMAN, Chief Justice,
specially concurring.
[121] I have no quibble with the majority's reasoning. Indeed, affirmance appears to me to be mandated by the indecent liberties statute, which permits the prosecution of "any person." However, although I am not troubled by application of the indecent liberties statute under these specific facts, I am concerned that this case has the potential to lead to absurd results in future cases.
Imagine this scenario. A boy and a girl, both high school seniors just short of their eighteenth birthdays, engage in consensual sex. After today's opinion, both could potentially be found guilty of indecent liberties, a felony conviction that includes drastic collateral consequences in addition to imprisonment for up to ten years. I do not believe this is a desirable result. As Justice Blume observed so many years ago, "[ilt is not the purpose or end of government to incarcerate as many of its citizens as possible." Hubble v. State, 285 P. 153, 155, 41 Wyo. 275, 280 (1930).
[1283] In the most recent amendments to the indecent liberties and third degree sexual assault statutes, the legislature has made laudable efforts to harmonize the two provisions. Nevertheless, I am still concerned that the indecent liberties statute can be applied in ways that I believe would be absurd and unfortunate. I would respectfully suggest to the legislature that it re-examine this issue. Does it intend the result in the scenario cited above or in the case at hand? Or, given the comprehensive sexual assault statutory scheme, should the indecent liberties statute be applied only when the perpetrator is an adult and/or four years older than the victim? Finally, are there some types of conduct that should be considered for misdemeanor treatment? With these concerns, I concur in the majority opinion.