Sex-Ed No-No

November 11, 2007 permalink

Politicians used to try to keep children from buying erotic material on the grounds that sex education was the domain of parents. No any more. A Wisconsin mother has been forced to accept punishment for discussing sex with her teenaged sons. Maybe authorities in Wisconsin prefer teens to learn from pimps and prostitutes.

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

Alleged explicit sex discussion gets mom probation

Smalley

A Pardeeville mother accepted a plea agreement on charges she had a sexually explicit discussion with her two sons, even while she maintained she did nothing wrong and that she didn't understand why she was charged.

Amy J. Smalley, 36, said in court Thursday that she accepted the plea agreement in part because she thought it would be in the best interest of her sons, ages 12 and 16, in that it would spare them from testifying in court.

"I think this is what I'm going to have to do to make everyone happy," she said.

According to the charges filed against her, Smalley last year told her sons about several sexual experiences she had. She also allegedly described performing oral sex and also showed the two a sex toy.

"That is what I'm being charged with, but that is not what I did," Smalley said. "I believe I'm not guilty."

Smalley's attorneys unsuccessfully argued in court in July that the charges should be dismissed as the discussions should be protected as free speech between a parent and her children in the vein of sexual education.

Smalley said the charges were filed after she brought her sons to counseling in an attempt to help them from getting into trouble. One of her sons told authorities he did not think the discussion was appropriate.

"This whole thing's been like a nightmare for me and I can't understand it," she said.

In the agreement, Smalley pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of exposing a child to harmful material in exchange for the dismissal of a felony charge of exposing a child to harmful descriptions.

Columbia County Circuit Court Judge James Miller accepted the agreement and sentenced Smalley to a year of probation in addition to counseling — following the recommendation of Assistant District Attorney Crystal Long.

The felony charge could have levied a sentence of more than three years in prison and fines up to $10,000.

If the trial moved forward, Smalley's sons almost surely would have been required to testify.

"That would cause a great deal of additional pain and discomfort," Maura Melka, Smalley's attorney, said. "This is an internal family matter. ... Having the children testify would just be so hard."

mcall@capitalnewspapers.com 745-3510

Source: Portage Daily Register