Justices question limits on fathering
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Justices question limits on fathering
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
T.C. Brown
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus- Did a Medina County judge go too far when he ordered a man to refrain
from fathering children for five years?
That key question in a peculiar case nagged justices on the Ohio Supreme Court
Tuesday as they weighed an order imposed in 2002 by Common Pleas Judge James
Kimbler on Sean Talty. Talty, 32, who fathered seven children with five women
before he was 30, was convicted of owing $38,000 in child support for three of
the children.
In lieu of ordering jail time, Kimbler gave Talty five years probation with an
order to "make all reasonable efforts" to avoid procreation. Though Kimbler
didn't define "reasonable efforts," an appellate court affirmed the ruling.
Talty appealed, arguing that Kimbler's order violated a fundamental
constitutional right and was too broad.
Justices appeared sympathetic, firing a barrage of pointed questions at James
Bennett II, an assistant Medina County prosecutor.
"It's a constitutionally protected right to parent a child. How is that
different to procreate a child?" Justice Maureen O'Connor asked. "Isn't the
judge trying to legislate morality?"
Bennett called the case a "Catch-22" situation. Had the judge sent Talty to
prison, he would have been unable to father more children, but he also could
not provide the financial support he is now paying.
O'Connor and Chief Justice Thomas Moyer asked how the sentence would
rehabilitate Talty. Bennett said the sentence would improve Talty's character.
Justices also seemed concerned about how to enforce the sentence and how it
might restrict the right of Talty's new wife to have other children. They also
asked if she might be ordered to have an abortion or put a newborn up for
adoption.
"Absolutely not," Bennett said.
Justice Alice Robie Resnick and Moyer noted that the sentence does not take
into account that Talty might inherit or win a large enough sum of money to
support all of his children.
"This ruling could have been more narrowly tailored to the defendant, but it
wasn't," Moyer said.
Arguing on Talty's behalf, lawyer J. Dean Carro said the court should declare
the sentence unreasonable. Carro pointed out that a significant number of the
millions of people practicing birth control by the "rhythm method" fail.
After the hearing, Carro told reporters: "The day the government tells us we
cannot procreate is a dark day, indeed."
A decision in the case is expected within six months.
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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown