Sad Trial Begins in Iowa for Husband Charged with Sexual Abuse of Wife with Dementia
Today, April 8, is the scheduled day for jury selection to begin for the trial of State of Iowa v. Henry Rayhons. We’ve written about the charges here and here, but to summarize, Mr. Rayhons, now age 79, was charged last year with “sexual abuse” of his wife, Donna Rayhons (78 at the time), who was residing in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s. Iowa law has several different ways in which a “sexual act without consent” between a “husband and wife” can constitute “sexual abuse in the third degree.” See Iowa Code Section 709.4(2).
Here, because the husband and wife were not “cohabitating,” a conviction would appear to depend on the state’s ability to prove that the sex act was with a person suffering from a “mental defect or incapacity which precludes giving consent.” It appears the state takes the position that “consent” was impossible because Mrs. Rayhons had been diagnosed with a mental defect, the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. Further, it appears the state expects to prove that her husband was aware of the diagnosis, and further, that at some point before the evening in question, he “agreed” she was incapable of giving consent because of her condition. But at the core, isn’t there still an essential question about whether, assuming the state can prove those statutory elements, the law is intended to prevent a married couple from having “consensual” relations because one partner has Alzheimer’s?
There apparently was no evidence of physical or emotional damage to Mrs. Rayhons, including no evidence of cries for help or protestations on her part. It appears there will be testimony about the close and loving relationship the couple had before the night in question. It will be interesting — and sad — to hear whether there is evidence of a “sexual act.”
The Washington Post’s Sarah Kaplan has drawn together a history on the case to this point, including details first reported by Bryan Gruley for Bloomberg News. At one point the prosecution tried to get a change of venue for the trial — a very unusual request from a prosecutor — which the trial court denied.
I’ve been hearing from a lot of folks lately about this case, including several medical professionals. I think that after the charges were first announced in August 2014, many people expected the case to quietly disappear, especially as Mrs. Rayhons has passed away, and her husband, then a state legislator, had retired from office.
Yesterday, I had the interesting experience of being interviewed for a KABC radio show in Los Angeles by “Dr. Drew.” It was pretty clear that with his background, board certified in internal medicine and a clinical professor of psychiatry at USC, Dr. Drew Pinsky was troubled by the possibility that a medical diagnosis could, without more, be treated as prohibiting legally effective consent to sexual relations. (A guardian was appointed for Mrs. Rayhons, but those proceedings were begun after the night in question.) As Dr. Drew commented during the radio show, even in advanced dementia, there may be core functions that a person continues to be able to enjoy and therefore seek, including eating, drinking and … intimacy.