Court Opinion

ID: 9542458
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:34:39.429577+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:58.101430
License: Public Domain

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
¶32 The majority espouses a hedonistic ethic that is at odds with the declared law of this state. Our criminal code serves to “proscribe conduct that unjustifiably and undeniably causes or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interests____” A.R.S. § 13-101(1). Adultery is a crime, obviously declared so by our elected representatives because it strikes directly at the heart of family relations. It violates no natural right nor any positive law that the trial court awarded custody to the father here in part because the mother, still married, decided to *274transgress basic moral and legal precepts by engaging in an adulterous relationship with an abusive5 male. The trial judge properly determined that the environment which the mother offered the parties’ children was not desirable,6 and there is no abuse of discretion in the observation that it is “appalling” that she has decided to live in adultery with this rogue male in the childrens’ presence.
¶ 33 Statutes like A.R.S. sections 13-1408 and 13-1409 express “relevant standards of conduct” and seek to “ ‘strengthen and preserve the integrity of marriage and safeguard family relationships.’ ” Jarrett v. Jarrett, 78 Ill.2d 337, 36 Ill.Dec. 1, 400 N.E.2d 421, 423-24 (1979), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 927, 101 S.Ct. 329, 66 L.Ed.2d 155 (1980), reh’g denied, 449 U.S. 1067, 101 S.Ct. 797, 66 L.Ed.2d 612 (1980).7 Such statutes reflect a legislative determination that “open fornication represents a grave[ ] threat to public morality....” Id. 36 Ill.Dec. 1, 400 N.E.2d at 424. I would affirm.

. Mother admitted the boyfriend hit her.

. The boyfriend’s commission of domestic violence is expressly deemed contrary to the childrens’ best interests by statute. See A.R.S. § 25-403(B).

. While subsequent cases make it clear that Jarrett does not support any conclusive presumption about the fitness of a parent living in adultery, the case stands unchallenged in our jurisprudence for the notion that where adultery is considered a crime it may also be considered a negative factor in a custody determination. My personal views are not relevant and not offered here. I am guided by the legislature's declaration of public policy.