Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210309
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON and LON WAGNER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SEDUCTION LAW MIGHT DIE
Some Virginia legislators call it the "Shotgun Wedding Law."The state's century-old seduction law had been gathering dust until Floyd County's prosecutor used it this week to charge a preacher who had taken a teen-ager in his flock as his second "wife."
State Del. Jay DeBoer, a Petersburg Democrat, says the law is a product of an era when an all-male General Assembly "felt that we had to protect Virginia's womanhood from wolves, mashers and sweet-talking Northerners with lots of money." The only sure defense is to make good on a marriage promise.
DeBoer said the outdated notion that women are "silly creatures who can be easily swayed" is one reason a state commission on sexual assault has recommended getting rid of the statute. The law makes it a felony for a man to use the promise of marriage to seduce a female of "chaste character."
"It's there," Floyd County prosecutor Gino Williams said of the law, "and I will use it until they wipe it off the books."
Just as legislators once felt the need to protect all women, Williams said the state has a duty to protect people under the age of 18. That's why he charged Elwood Gallimore with seduction and taking indecent liberties with a minor.
DeBoer said the Gallimore case has at least "given me pause" to rethink his support for repealing the seduction law. But he said he'd like to research the state's lawbooks to see if there is some other law that would apply in such cases.
The charges against Gallimore, an unordained minister at Evangelistic Tabernacle in Henry County, came after he announced that he had taken Sabrina Simpkins, a 16-year-old Floyd County girl, as his wife.
Under Gallimore's interpretation of the Bible, the second marriage was accepted "in the eyes of God."
While addressing 60 members of his congregation Tuesday night, Gallimore scoffed at the charges against him and said he would present his own defense at a court appearance Feb. 24.
Authorities had originally discussed charging him with bigamy, but said that charge could not be supported because the marriage with Simpkins wasn't legal.
Williams said he charged Gallimore with seduction because Gallimore was already married, and thus could not fulfill a promise of marriage to Simpkins.
The fact that Simpkins is not an adult was important in his decision to prosecute, Williams said. "The state has an overwhelming interest in protecting the rights of minors. There is a presumption that they cannot protect their own rights."
Lane Kneedler, a former chief deputy attorney general and an expert on sex-offense laws, said he can understand why some people would see the law as archaic.
But "I think you'll find a statute like this will be used only in cases like this where there is an unusual situation. A reasonable person would say this conduct is wrong, but nothing seems to fit" - except for the seduction charge.
The Beyer commission on child sexual abuse, a statewide task force headed by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, has listed repealing the seduction law among its dozens of ideas for improving protection for victims of sexual assault.
Del. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville, has introduced a bill that says adults who have sex with children 15 through 17 are guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Currently, an adult who has consensual sex with a child 14 or younger is guilty of statutory rape. But Reynolds said some judges have ruled there is no law that applies when the child is older.
"If you think about it very long, it doesn't make very much sense for a child 16 or 17 to be able to consent to sex with a 40-year-old."
Reynolds said his did not introduce the bill specifically in response to the Gallimore case.
Gail Nardi, a spokeswoman for Beyer, said Reynolds' bill would "close the loophole" in the state's laws and be a much better tool for dealing with such cases than the seduction law.
She said one concern is that the seduction law invites the kind of scrutiny of the victim's sexual history that is generally not allowed during the trials of other sex offenses. Because it specifies that the victim must be a virgin, defense attorneys are free to turn the case into a trial of her sexual past.
DeBoer said one of the strangest things is that the law says marriage is an absolute defense. If the defendant agrees to finally honor his marriage proposal, then the charge must be dropped.
"It's like getting rid of an armed robbery charge by marrying the victim," he said.
Staff writer Warren Fiske and The Associated Press contributed to this story.