Updating Oregon's Unjust Prosecution of Consenting Adults

It's important to update readers on a Genetic Sexual Attraction case out of Oregon this blogged last covered a couple of months back. Here's a report from kmtr.com from January 9...

A 49-year-old man and his 25-year-old daughter face incest charges, accused of conceiving two children together.

Springfield Police arrested Eric Gates and Chelsea Moody.

Their kids, both under 2 years old, were taken into state custody.

"There's issues with the children and they've been put into foster care," said Sgt. Dave Lewis with Springfield Police. "It's not a good situation all around."

You what is a big issue with kids? When you take their parents away. Is there any evidence that these children wouldn't have had these problems with a different mother or with a different father? We're never given any statement clarifying. The insinuation is made anyway.

Then Chelsea Gorrow reported at registerguard.com on January 17...

The father accused of having a sexual relationship with his adult ­biological daughter pleaded guilty to incest Friday in Lane County Circuit Court.

People are often advised to plead guilty when they're not, or when the law is absurd, to avoid a longer prison term. It's outrageous.

The judge said she considered Moody a victim, and victims have the right to make a statement at sentencing hearings. Therefore, Moody would have to be notified before Gates can be sentenced, Holland said.

Interesting. What if this has happened twenty-five years from now, when Gates would be considered elderly? Would Moody still be considered a victim? Are adults free to chose their sexual partners or not?

Parosa told the judge that Gates had been serving time in prison for driving under the influence of intoxicants in 2012 when he received a letter from Moody, whom he did not know at the time. Parosa said that the two had been introduced by a mutual friend, and neither Moody nor Gates knew they were related when they began communicating. 

The two kept up a pen-pal relationship until Gates was released later that year, Parosa said. As the relationship began to “expand,” Parosa said, Gates learned the identity of Moody’s biological mother, and the couple realized they were father and daughter.

So they'd established a friendship or romance before knowing of their genetic relation.

Parosa said the relationship turned sexual only after the two realized their genetic connection.

That shouldn't be anyone else's business.

Parosa told the judge that the two began living together “as husband and wife,” with full knowledge that they were related. 

That shouldn't be a criminal matter.

The couple then had a child together who had significant mental and physical problems, drawing the attention of law enforcement to the incestuous relationship, Parosa told the judge. The couple then had a second child.

Plenty of people do that who aren't closely related. Should they be prosecuted, too?

Here's a January 20 update from kval.com...

A Springfield man who pleaded guilty to charges of incest stemming from two children he conceived with his adult daughter will spend 10 days in jail and 18 months on probation.

A Lane County judge also ordered Eric Gates, 49, to pay restitution to the State of Oregon for the medical expenses of the 2 children he had with his adult daughter, 25-year-old Chalena Moody.

 Again, are other parents treated this way?

Here's the registerguard.com's update by Jack Moran dated January 21...

Lane County Circuit Judge Lauren Holland on Tuesday ordered Gates to serve 18 months of probation. During that time, Gates is barred from contacting his daughter, who also faces an incest charge.

Ridiculous.

Gates was released from the Lane County Jail after the sentencing hearing. He had been behind bars since his arrest on Dec. 23.

Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Gates’ 25-year-old daughter, Chalena Moody, after she failed to show up for her scheduled arraignment.

There shouldn't be an arraignment in the first place.

“The state is pleading with (Gates and Moody) to change their actions, for the good of the children they are bearing, and for society as a whole,” Parosa said.

If he had a vasectomy, would the authorities let them be? I'd wager money the answer is no. This is about sex policing, not about children.

Here's the registerguard.com's update also dated January 21...

A woman who allegedly engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with her father has pleaded not guilty to a felony incest charge.

Chalena Moody, 25, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Lane County Circuit Court, hours after a judge issued an arrest warrant because she had failed to show up for a scheduled court appearance earlier that same day.

Gates wound up back in jail, according to this report from February 13 at registerguard.com...

Eric Lee Gates, 49, was arrested in Klamath County Wednesday for a probation violation and transferred to the Lane County Jail the following day, where he is awaiting a hearing Tuesday.

Prosecutor Chris Parosa declined to identify the probation violation before Tuesday’s circuit court hearing is held.

Something stinks with that. Well, read this March 3 report by Jack Moran at registerguard.com...

A man will serve six months in jail for ignoring a judge’s order to avoid all contact with his adult daughter, who gave birth to two physically impaired children as a result of an illegal sexual relationship with her father.

Former Springfield resident Eric Lee Gates, 49, admitted Monday during an appearance in Lane County Circuit Court that he had moved in with his 25-year-old daughter shortly after having been convicted in January of a felony incest charge.

Isn't it ridiculous to waste taxpayer resources to keep consenting adults apart?

Chelsea Gorrow at the same news source reported on March 5...

Moody was booked into the Lane County Jail just after 3 p.m. Wednesday on the incest charge. She also was booked on two Lincoln County warrants alleging harassment and reckless endangerment.

It was unclear whether Moody turned herself in Wednesday or was caught by police.

Who was harassed? Who was endangered? We're not told. Hmmm.

Here is Gorrow's update from March 20...

The woman accused of having an illegal relationship with her biological father has pleaded guilty to felony incest and received a 10-day jail sentence, according to Lane County Circuit Court records. 

Chalena Moody, 25, will receive credit for time served and will not serve any additional jail time after her release from custody on Tuesday. She also was placed on 18 months of probation. 

One condition of her probation is that Moody cannot have contact with her father, Eric Lee Gates, 49, who is serving 60 days in the Lane County Jail for violating his probation and moving in with Moody following his guilty plea and subsequent sentencing to the same probationary terms.

Outrageous. So there are no burglaries, robberies, or assaults going on around there? Why is there so much time they can devote to putting consenting adults through such treatment?

Their children were repeatedly cited as a justification to criminalize the love between these two, but no evidence was presented that the problems the children have are genetically-based. If they abused the children prosecute them for that. If environmental factors or something else has harmed the children, then figure that out. These absurd laws are applied in cases where no children were produced, when children are healthy, and when there's no chance of any children being produced. It's a smokescreen. (This blog does, however, recommend that ANYONE considering having children get genetic counseling.)

On the Facebook page of one of the news sources, I encountered people commenting calling for the execution of one or both of these adults. When given the chance to soften or modify their position, the people doubled down on calling for their execution. And despite the articles making it clear that he did not raise her and didn't even have contact with her while she was growing up, they still were insisting that be must have been abusing her from an early age. The hatred and ignorance is appalling.