...know who I was. Boy...depending on her stage of health, this would be a tough call. My default thinking is "Not guilty" but alas, I wasn't there or know the whole picture.

The David Pakman show ???????

I would say that consent is the same as it is without dementia. If she wants to do it and is enjoying it, then that is her consent. As soon as she no longer wants it or does not enjoy it, that is the end of her consent.

Her having dementia means that he has to be very aware of her state of mind and physical comfort. But that is also true if she doesn't have dementia.

A more difficult question is whether a spouse with dementia is capable of being aware of the other person's state of mind and the other person's wishes. The sad fact is that it is often not the case.

By the way, neither of my parents seemed to have any actual desire for sex once they has dementia. But they did want affection and physical closeness.

The common law rule as to MARRIAGE, was you could marry at age 12. It came up in a Pennsylvania Case in the 1990s. A Teacher was having sex with his 12 year old student. He was caught and his defense was they had entered into a Common Law Marriage and married people can have sex with each other. This case went all the way to the State Supreme Court which ruled that since the State Legislature had NEVER addressed Common Law Marriage, such marriages were still legal in Pennsylvania and the age of consent to enter such marriages is the age of consent to enter marriages by the Common Law and that was age 12.

Thus the teacher had NOT committed any crimes for it was legal for him to have sex with his wife. The Marriage was valid for under the common law no parental permission was needed to enter into a valid common law marriage AND a 12 year old could enter into such a marriage.

Subsequently to that decision, the State Legislature passed a law making Parental Permission a requirement for ALL marriages entered into when a party is below 18 (prior law had only covered ceremonial marriages i.e. when you went in front of a Priest, Preacher or Magistrate and exchanged vows).

As of January 1st, 2005 no one can enter into a Common Law Marriages in Pennsylvania, but any marriage entered prior to that date are still valid.

A judge in Colorado has pointed out the above Pennsylvanian Decision and remarked that Colorado has also NOT addressed the issue of consent and age when it comes to Common Law Marriage AND thus it looks like age 12 and no consent of Parents is the law in Colorado.

12 is also the Common Law Age of Consent for sex, all states have set higher ages for the age of consent, varies to much from state to state for me to write them down but Wikipedia has a list:



This map displays the legal age of consent for heterosexual sex in North America.
Dark Blue Age 16
Green age 18
Tan age 17

Please remember my statement about sex between married parties, that is always legal if consensual. Many states are NOT absolute, for example Pennsylvania the age of consent is 16 UNLESS the parties are less than four years apart in age, then 14.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_North_America

I bring this up, for that would be his defense, did his wife have the mental capacity of a 12 year old? If yes, she could agree to sex, if no, then the charge is valid.

and might be entirely capable of consenting to or initiating sex. We have far too little information to judge this situation and I would trust the judgment of a caring spouse before that of an underpaid CNA.

Is the precedent going to be that once your spouse is diagnosed with dementia you are no longer legally allowed to have any intimate contact with them?

How cruel is that?