Priorities in Crime Coverage

This Oklahoma City news source reported “Incestuous Couple Wants Custody of Their Kids”

That, of course, is an important subject around here, so I was interested.

Then I read the first line of the story.

A DNA test proves a brother and sister accused in a kidnapping, rape and murder case are the parents of two children.

Why does the headline focus on their sex lives? They are accused of kidnapping, rape, and murder. Aren’t those things more serious than adults having sex with each other? It’s almost as if consensual sex is considered more serious than murder.

If they aren’t found guilty of the serious crimes, they should be allowed to raise their daughters.

Here’s a headline that as least has priorities: “Siblings Accused of Murder, Kidnapping Have Children Together”

Of course, I don’t think it is relevant to the murder case coverage that they have children together. That is, perhaps, and unfortunate attempt to paint consanguineous sex in the same light as such horrible things as kidnapping, rape, and murder.

There is a bizarre twist involving a brother and sister who were arrested last year in connection to a murder and kidnapping.

It’s not bizarre. People used to write like that about two men having sex or raising children, and interracial couples, too.

During a court hearing Wednesday, it was revealed that Glendon Gouker fathered two children with his half-sister, Michele.

You mean, kind of like Abraham and Sarah in the Bible?

Last September, Glendon Gouker was arrested in the murder of Ethan Walton.

Walton's body was found inside a 55-gallon barrel.

Prosecutors say Gouker killed Walton and then raped his girlfriend.

Walton and his girlfriend should be the focus of the coverage. They are crime victims, regardless of who did it.

Along with the charges related to the murder and kidnapping, Michele and Glendon Gouker are accused of exposing the two children to methamphetamine.

So let’s see… accused of doping up their kids, accused of kidnapping, rape, and murder, but let’s focus on the consensual sex!

Their attorneys say if Michele and Glendon are exonerated they should regain some parental rights.

"I believe that the children, up until now, have been residing with both of these people. They have both been vital parts of these children's' lives and I believe they will be able to be fit parents in the future, " Pam Stephens said, Glendon Gouker's attorney.

That’s the way the system is supposed to work. Unless the parents are proven unfit, they get to keep raising their own kids.

We contacted the District Attorney's office to find out if Michele and Glendon Gouker would face charges of incest.

The D.A. says he has yet to make a decision.

Why? If they are guilty of the murder, it’s silly to charge them with incest. But why prosecute people for consensual sex at all?