Hermesmann v. Seyer

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Hermesmann v. Seyer
Court Supreme Court of Kansas
Full case nameState of Kansas, ex rel., Colleen Hermesmann v. Shane Seyer, a minor, and Dan and Mary Seyer, his parents
Decided5 March 1993 (1993-03-05)
Citation(s) 252 Kan. 646, 847 P.2d 1273 (Kan. 1993)
Case history
Prior action(s)State ex rel. Hermesmann v. Seyer (Kan. Dist. Ct. Shawnee County 1992)
Case opinions
Decision by Richard Winn Holmes

Hermesmann v. Seyer (State of Kansas ex rel. Hermesmann v. Seyer, 847 P.2d 1273 (Kan. 1993)) [1] was a precedent-setting Kansas, United States, case in which Colleen Hermesmann successfully argued that a woman is entitled to sue the father of her child for child support even if conception occurred as a result of a criminal act committed by the woman. [2] [3] The case was brought in her name by the then Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

Contents

Background

Hermesmann was a babysitter for Shane Seyer during 1987 and 1988. When Hermesmann was 16, she began a sexual relationship with Seyer who was 12 years old. When she was 17 and Seyer was 13, she became pregnant and their daughter was born in 1989. Criminal charges had been brought against Hermesmann by Shawnee County, Kansas, accusing her of "engaging in the act of sexual intercourse with a child under sixteen" whilst she herself was a juvenile. [2] : 448  In the event she stipulated as a juvenile offender to "contributing to a child's misconduct" which is not a sexual offense. [2] : 448 

In 1991, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, in Hermesmann's name, took Seyer to court seeking child support. Hermesmann's criminal culpability was not addressed in this trial, as this was purely a civil court case. The Department also sought and was awarded $7,000, equivalent to $15,700in 2023, [4] for its own costs. [5] However, in the later Supreme Court hearing, the Department stated it never had any intention of collecting its award. [6]

Kansas Supreme Court case

In 1993, the Kansas Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Seyer that he was not liable to pay for child support. [3] The court held that the admitted facts established that, because being under 16 he had been legally unable to consent to sex, a crime against him had been committed under statutory rape law, but that Seyer had actually given consent to the acts under civil law. [2] [7] The court ruled that "at no time did Shane register any complaint to his parents about the sexual liaison with Colleen". [2] The court also ruled that a mother's potential culpability under criminal statutes was of no relevance in determining the father's child support liability in a civil action. [7] [8] The court stated "The State's interest in requiring minor parents to support their children overrides the State's competing interest in protecting juveniles from improvident acts, even when such acts may include criminal activity on the part of the other parent". [9]

Precedents set

The case established a precedent which has subsequently been used in the Kansas courts. [10] It is one of the earlier cases now cited in U.S. child-support guidelines which say that in every case that has addressed the issue the court has decided that an underage boy is liable for the support of his child even when the conception was the result of criminal conduct by the mother. [11]

In a 1997 case before the Florida District Court of Appeal, the court's decision cited Hermesmann, saying that the Kansas decision was taken even though the Kansas statute states "a person under 15 years of age is incapable of consent as a matter of law". [12] The court also remarked that "the Kansas court did not address the question of whether lack of actual consent (apart from the statutory definition) could form the basis of a defense to an action to establish paternity". [12] In this case also the question of whether actual non-consent might be a defense was not before the court. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Age of consent</span> Minimum age for agreement to sexual activities

The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim that the sexual activity was consensual, and such sexual activity may be considered child sexual abuse or statutory rape. The person below the minimum age is considered the victim, and their sex partner the offender, although some jurisdictions provide exceptions through "Romeo and Juliet laws" if one or both participants are underage and are close in age.

In criminal law, mens rea is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of mens rea and actus reus before the defendant can be found guilty.

Paternity law refers to body of law underlying legal relationship between a father and his biological or adopted children and deals with the rights and obligations of both the father and the child to each other as well as to others. A child's paternity may be relevant in relation to issues of legitimacy, inheritance and rights to a putative father's title or surname, as well as the biological father's rights to child custody in the case of separation or divorce and obligations for child support.

Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence that includes child sexual abuse, groping, rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, and the torture of the person in a sexual manner.

In criminal law, strict liability is liability for which mens rea does not have to be proven in relation to one or more elements comprising the actus reus although intention, recklessness or knowledge may be required in relation to other elements of the offense. The liability is said to be strict because defendants could be convicted even though they were genuinely ignorant of one or more factors that made their acts or omissions criminal. The defendants may therefore not be culpable in any real way, i.e. there is not even criminal negligence, the least blameworthy level of mens rea.

The legal age of consent for sexual activity varies by jurisdiction across Asia. The specific activity engaged in or the gender of participants can also be relevant factors. Below is a discussion of the various laws dealing with this subject. The highlighted age refers to an age at or above which an individual can engage in unfettered sexual relations with another who is also at or above that age. Other variables, such as homosexual relations or close in age exceptions, may exist, and are noted when relevant.

The ages of consent vary by jurisdiction across Europe. The ages of consent – hereby meaning the age from which one is deemed able to consent to having sex with anyone else of consenting age or above – are between 14 and 18. The vast majority of countries set their ages in the range of 14 to 16; only four countries, Cyprus (17), Ireland (17), Turkey (18), and the Vatican City (18), set an age of consent higher than 16.

A grant, vacate, remand (GVR) is a type of order issued by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court simultaneously grants a petition for certiorari, vacates the decision of the court below, and remands the case for further proceedings. An order of this sort is typically appropriate when there has been a change in legal circumstances subsequent to the lower court or agency's decision, such as a change in the law, a precedential ruling, or a confession of error; the Supreme Court simply sends the case back to the lower court to be reconsidered in light of the new law or the new precedent. GVR orders are designed to be efficient and thus are not full explications of the law, and have no precedential effect. GVR orders are usually not explained with lengthy opinions.

Rape is a type of sexual assault initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, under threat or manipulation, by impersonation, or with a person who is incapable of giving valid consent.

Age of consent reform is an effort to change age of consent laws. Proposed reforms typically include raising, lowering, or abolishing the age of consent, applying close-in-age exemptions, changing penalties, or changing how cases are examined in court. A related issue is whether or not to enforce ages of consent on homosexual relationships that are different from those enforced on heterosexual relationships. Organized efforts have ranged from academic discussions to political petitions.

State v. Limon, 280 Kan. 275, 122 P.3d 22 (2005), is a Kansas Supreme Court case in which a state law allowing for lesser punishment for statutory rape convictions if the partners were of different sexes than if they were of the same sex was found unconstitutional under both the federal and Kansas state constitutions. It was among the first cases to cite the United States Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas as precedent, months after the Virginia Supreme Court did similarly in Martin v. Ziherl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas Supreme Court</span> Highest court in the U.S. state of Kansas

The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the state court of last resort in the appeals process.

Laws against child sexual abuse vary by country based on the local definition of who a child is and what constitutes child sexual abuse. Most countries in the world employ some form of age of consent, with sexual contact with an underage person being criminally penalized. As the age of consent to sexual behaviour varies from country to country, so too do definitions of child sexual abuse. An adult's sexual intercourse with a minor below the legal age of consent may sometimes be referred to as statutory rape, based on the principle that any apparent consent by a minor could not be considered legal consent.

In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent. Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual contact with minors under the age of consent, it is a generic term, and very few jurisdictions use the actual term statutory rape in the language of statutes. In statutory rape, overt force or threat is usually not present. Statutory rape laws presume coercion because a minor or mentally disabled adult is legally incapable of giving consent to the act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ages of consent in the United States</span> U.S. law on age of consent to sexual activity

In the United States, each state and territory sets the age of consent either by statute or the common law applies, and there are several federal statutes related to protecting minors from sexual predators. Depending on the jurisdiction, the legal age of consent is between 16 and 18. In some places, civil and criminal laws within the same state conflict with each other.

Rape is a statutory offence in England and Wales. The offence is created by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003:

(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—

(2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents.
(3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life.

Pregnancy is a potential result of rape. It has been studied in the context of war, particularly as a tool for genocide, as well as in other unrelated contexts, such as rape by a stranger, statutory rape, incest, and underage pregnancy. The current scientific consensus is that rape is at least as likely to lead to pregnancy as consensual sexual intercourse, with some studies suggesting rape may actually result in higher rates of pregnancy than consensual intercourse.

People of California v. Hernandez, 61 Cal.2d 529 (1964), was a California Supreme Court case ruling that an "honest and reasonable" mistake as to the age of a female is a valid defense to a statutory rape charge.

Kahler v. Kansas, 589 U.S. ___ (2020), is a case of the United States Supreme Court in which the justices ruled that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution do not require that states adopt the insanity defense in criminal cases that are based on the defendant's ability to recognize right from wrong. It was argued on October 7, 2019 and decided on March 23, 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Hermesmann v. Seyer, 847P.2d1273 (Kan.1993).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Rowland, Debran (2004). The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights in America . Naperville, Illinois: Sphinx Publishing. pp.  448–449. ISBN   978-1-57248-368-2.
  3. 1 2 "Court Tells Youth to Support Child He Fathered at Age 13". The New York Times. 6 March 1993. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  4. ↑ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "Court asked to rule whether 13-year-old owes child support". Lawrence Journal-World. Associated Press. 24 January 1993. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  6. ↑ Lewis, Myrisha S. (25 October 2012). "Making Sex the Same: Ending the Unfair Treatment of Males in Family Law" (PDF). Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society. 27: 257–280. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Teen Must Pay For Getting Sitter Pregnant". Deseret News. Associated Press. 6 March 1993. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "13-year-old is responsible for child support – Court". Lawrence Journal-World. 5 March 1993.
  9. ↑ Cocca, Carolyn (2004). Jailbait: The Politics of Statutory Rape Laws in the United States. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0-7914-5906-5.
  10. ↑ "24 Kan. App. 2d 324 No. 76,971". Kansas Court of Appeal. Archived from the original on 9 March 2005.
  11. ↑ Morgan, Laura W. (2012). Child Support Guidelines: Interpretation and Application (2nd ed.). New York: Wolters Kluwer. p. 8-130. ISBN   978-1-4548-0113-9.
  12. 1 2 3 "DEPT. OF REV., BENNETT v. MILLER". Leagle, Inc. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
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