Ex-lawmaker charged with felony sex abuse is acquitted by jury
A former state lawmaker being criminally tried in an unusual sexual-abuse case, based on his late wife’s dementia, was acquitted Wednesday by an Iowa jury.
Henry Rayhons was charged in the felony case after staff at the nursing home at which Donna Rayhons was then living determined, with the help of a doctor, that she was unable to consent to sex because of her Alzheimer’s disease. It was not clear, however, that his wife had ever objected to sex with her husband. Some experts told reporters that, like a hunger for food, sexual desire is a basic need that can be expressed by someone with limited mental functioning.
Testifying in his own defense, the 78-year-old Rayhons tearfully denied that he had done anything wrong and told the jury, “I treated her like a queen.” After the verdict was announced in the Hancock County case, Rayhons said, “The truth finally came out,” reports the Des Moines Register.
“Our office prosecuted this case based on a complaint, thorough law enforcement investigation, and Iowa law,” the Iowa attorney general’s office said in a written statement provided to the newspaper. “The jury made its decision, which we respect.”
The Associated Press also has a story.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Former lawmaker faces spouse-abuse case; AG’s office says wife’s dementia precluded consent to sex”
