Adultery Could Mean Life Imprisonment in Michigan

In the state of Michigan, cheating on a spouse is considered a felony, though no one has been charged with the crime since 1971. However, news of the vague and seldom-enforced law made international headlines when an appeals judge warned that adultery could technically land cheating spouses a life prison sentence.

While it’s not clear whether or not he was serious when he pointed out the potential consequences and penalties of extramarital sex, critics believe that Judge William Murphy of the Michigan Court of Appeals was attempting to make a political statement by strictly interpreting the law to a strange conclusion.

Others say Murphy was just trying to humiliate Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox who triggered the law by appealing a stricter sentence for a man convicted of trading drugs for sex even though Cox himself admitted to having an adulterous relationship in 2005.

Criminal Sexual Conduct

The decision came about in the case of 43-year-old Lloyd Waltonen who gave a cocktail waitress OxyContin (a prescription painkiller) in exchange for sex. Waltonen received a four to 20 year prison sentence, but was dismissed of four counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, which is punishable by a life sentence, because the sex with the waitress was consensual.

The Michigan attorney general’s office appealed Waltonen’s case successfully, citing a vague criminal law provision, which states that any sexual activity committed during the same time as a felony constitutes criminal sexual conduct. Waltonen was found guilty and appealed his case.

In the appeal, Judge Murphy wrote that technically an individual is guilty of criminal sexual conduct at any time he/she “engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship.”

He also said that first-degree criminal sexual conduct, as defined by state law, is sexual penetration combined with another felony and since extramarital sex is a felony, it could lead to life imprisonment.

Fortunately, this harsh sentence is unlikely to ever occur.

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