Sunday, 26 March 2000
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/000326NILLEGAL-COHABITAT.html
By Jim Yardley
© 2000 The New York Times
PERALTA, N.M. Richard Pitcher and Kimberly Henry began
their courtship in January with a lunch that led to dinner that
incited three dizzy weeks and talk of marriage. But his second
divorce was still fresh, and her first marriage had been a disaster,
so they decided to try a road test of sorts. They moved in together.
He cleaned out a dresser for her clothes, and she brought her
stereo and her books. Everything seemed to be progressing nicely
until the summons arrived in the mail charging them with violating
Article 30-10-2 of the New Mexico criminal code, otherwise known
as unlawful cohabitation. First offenders get a warning; repeat
offenders could spend six months in jail.
"I just couldn't believe it," Pitcher said. "I
was shocked."
In many places these days, living together carries less of a moral
stain than smoking, but in New Mexico, as in Arizona, it is against
the law. Few New Mexicans seem to realize this, and even fewer
of the state's law-enforcement officials have ever chosen to uphold
the statute, perhaps for lack of jail space. But one person familiar
with the law is Pitcher's second ex-wife, and in February she
filed a complaint.
In New Mexico, the statute is a reminder that state legal codes
are like old attics: Almost anything can be in there, and cleaning
them out is never easy. In Oklahoma, for example, a person can
be sentenced to 30 days in jail for "injuring" fruit,
melons or flowers. In North Carolina, swearing remains prohibited
in all 100 counties except two at opposite ends of the state,
for balance.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has no details on
how many states have laws against cohabitation, but there are
at least a few. In Arizona, the Legislature rebuffed efforts last
month to repeal its own 80-year-old cohabitation law after a committee
chairman described it as a bulwark against the "decaying
fabric of society." Massachusetts, on the other hand, chose
to risk decay. In 1987, it repealed its ban on "lewdly and
lasciviously associating and cohabitating without the benefit
of marriage." The law had been on the books since 1784.
These laws are often just statutory reminders of bygone eras until,
of course, a person is charged with breaking one. That rarely
happens since officials regard such laws as unenforceable. About
a decade ago, a sheriff in southern New Mexico announced plans
to enforce the cohabitation law, but an irritated citizenry soon
convinced him otherwise.
Yet Charles E. Knoblauch, a lawyer representing Henry, noted that
private citizens in New Mexico have considerable latitude in filing
misdemeanor criminal charges. Under state law, a person need only
swear out a complaint with the police and pay a fee to charge
someone with a misdemeanor. No police investigation is required.
"For $25, you can make someone's life a living hell,"
Knoblauch said.
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