Morbid obsession

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Morbid obsession

Postby nomo » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:57 pm

Or is there some other meme being spread here?<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0906061grave1.html">www.thesmokinggun.com/arc...rave1.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>SEPTEMBER 6--When Nicholas Grunke last week spotted a newspaper photo<br>of Laura Tennessen, the Wisconsin man apparently became so smitten<br>that he plotted a rendezvous with the 20-year-old woman. But the photo<br>Grunke saw accompanied an August 29 obituary of Tennessen, who died in<br>a motorcycle accident. Undeterred, Grunke allegedly plotted with his<br>twin brother Alex and a friend, 20-year-old Dustin Radke, to rob<br>Tennessen's grave so that he could have sex with her corpse. Details<br>of the trio's degenerate scheme are contained in a criminal complaint<br>filed yesterday in Grant County Circuit Court. A copy of the document<br>can be found here. In a police interview, Radke said that he and the<br>Grunke brothers stopped at a Wal-Mart to buy condoms on their way to<br>the cemetery. The necrophilia plot was disrupted Saturday night when<br>police received a report of a suspicious vehicle near St. Charles<br>Cemetery in Cassville, where Tennessen is buried. When confronted by a<br>cop, an "very nervous" Alex Grunke admitted to the grave robbing<br>scheme, noting that his cohorts were then digging up Tennessen's<br>coffin. When police arrived at the gravesite, Nicholas Grunke and<br>Radke were gone, though cops noticed that a hole had been dug down to<br>the concrete vault encasing the woman's coffin, according to the<br>complaint. Nicholas Grunke and Radke were later arrested while walking<br>about eight miles from the cemetery. The men are each facing sexual<br>assault and theft charges that could land them in prison for more than<br>five years. Though bail has been set at $1000 apiece for the Grunke<br>brothers and $1500 for Radke, the men remain in custody at the Grant<br>County Jail, where the below mug shots were snapped. Pictured from top<br>to bottom are Nicholas Grunke, his brother Alex, and Radke.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: If it's a meme it will be spread via the mainstream medi

Postby Jill Burdigala » Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:24 am

and not the Smoking Gun. Please allow me to suggest the use of my personal litmus test: who is the news director of your most popular local radio morning show? When s/he brings it up (assuming you don't live in some radical 18th century community where people who <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>oppose</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> the status quo control the news) then you will know someone is trying to tell you something.<br><br>Obviously there have always been very powerful people who pull strings from behind the curtain. Of course I'm not saying anything that the regular posters here don't affirm a hundred times a day. But I think some of the posters here (this is not personally directed at you Nomo) in their search for truth sometimes forget that there are also an awful lot of people in this world who are just sad, broken, or not too bright, and who, when pursuing their most burning urges, can enlist the help of friends or family members who are also sad, broken, or not too bright. <br><br>Look at the photos in that Smoking Gun article; how "with it" do those people look to you? If you were a shadow government top secret meme spreading agent, or whatever the job description is, who would you choose as your plant? Someone with brains, wealth, power, or fame, whom many of the "common" people might admire and emulate since, as Mark Twain once expressed, "the race of man dearly loves a lord"? Or some sad little pathetic nobody from bumf*** with a big "LOSER" stamp indelibly printed across his face? <br><br>Of course this is assuming that shadow government top secret meme spreading agents are sinisterly competent at their jobs, and not halfheartedly throwing together any old crap to run out the clock (as for instance I have to admit that I in my perfectly pedestrian job do).<br><br>Necrophilia is such a fundamental perversion in humanity that Vergil was mentioning it more than 2000 years ago, and perhaps someone here can cite an even older reference. In fact I suspect it, like all perversions, is rather more common among our fellow 6 billion humans than those of us who are repelled by those perversions may wish to imagine. To rip off a famous line from P.T. Barnum, "no one ever went broke underestimating the sickness of the human race". <p></p><i></i>
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Re: If it's a meme it will be spread via the mainstream medi

Postby yesferatu » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:27 am

Wisconsin is filled with these kind of freaks.<br><br>But funny you should mention necrophilia......<br><br>I just finished watching Werner Herzogs "Heart of Glass" where there was a scene with a guy dancing with his dead boyfriends corpse. <br>Werner found some real freaks to put in that one. Kinda reminded me of Wisconsin....<br>seriously, every character in that film looked inbred. I'll have to watch Werner's commentary cuz the movie seems pretty eff'd up and all.<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: If it's a meme it will be spread via the mainstream medi

Postby Jill Burdigala » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:49 am

Yesferatu, true too here in Ohio! I have lost count of the number of times I have heard of graveyards being vandalized, crypts being broken into, bodies being dug up. Just a couple of weeks ago in fact someone was caught digging up a body to take the skull to make a bong out of.<br><br>I don't know if this is due to modern middle class American culture having all but abandoned the awareness of death, or of the Old Northwest being built upon the graves of thousands of red and white people who died horribly fighting each other over this land, or of dumb kids just doing things because it's "Wicked X-Treme, Man!" and therefore cool, or what. <p></p><i></i>
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heart of glss

Postby orz » Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:49 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>seriously, every character in that film looked inbred. I'll have to watch Werner's commentary cuz the movie seems pretty eff'd up and all.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>Notoriously, this film was shot with all but one of the actors under hypnosis in every shot!! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
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cold Ethel

Postby chillin » Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:50 am

I didn't want to start the thread but since it's going now, <br><br>"Necrophile could have offended before<br><br>Published: 30th August 2006 10:54 CET<br>Online: <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4735">www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4735</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>A 43-year-old man who was arrested two weeks ago for allegedly having sex with a woman's corpse at a church in Västerås was remand in custody on Tuesday for the sex crime as well as burning down a church in 1998.<br><br>Police detained the man in early August after they found an open coffin that was set to be placed in the church’s crypt. Near the unlocked coffin, police found a beer can. The body was positioned in a strange way leading police to suspect something was wrong.<br><br>The man admitted to having sex with the body and to burning down a 330-year-old wooden church in Surahammar in 1998. According to Vestmanlands Läns Tidning, the 43-year-old admitted in closed door testimony to having had sex with other corpses.<br><br>The man was taken to a hospital for suspected stroke.<br><br>Police and prosecutors are not commenting on the ongoing case. The man could be charged with the crimes as early as September 4."<br><br>I know these stories are horrible, but I find them kinda hilarious too for some reason. I keep imagining how proud the parents of the kids on TSG must be. Real conversation starter. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: cold Ethel

Postby Gouda » Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:07 am

Reminds me of Cormac McCarthy's <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Child of God</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. The story of Lester Ballard, a Tennesseen backwood reject from the human community, and...necrophiliac. <br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em><br>"You could say that he's sustained by his fellow men, like you.... A race that gives suck to the maimed and the crazed, that wants their wrong blood in its history and will have it."</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>McCarthy's new book, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>The Road</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, is about a post-apocalyptic world. Lot's of those stories going around these days. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: cold Ethel

Postby Sepka » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:04 am

I think it's strange that the fellow was charged with assault. How can you commit assault against a corpse?<br> <p>-Sepka the Space Weasel</p><i></i>
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Re: cold Ethel

Postby bvonahsen » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:44 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>How can you commit assault against a corpse?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>It is simply defined that way because the real assault is to ourselves. Just as laws against cruelty to animals are more about us and our sensibilities than respect to the animals. Though it is about that also. To disrespect a corpse is to spit on all life. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: cold Ethel

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:06 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I think it's strange that the fellow was charged with assault. How can you commit assault against a corpse?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>What a profoundly psychotic question, and I mean that in a literal sense.. <p>____________________<br>Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.</p><i></i>
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Re: heart of glss

Postby yesferatu » Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:32 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Notoriously, this film was shot with all but one of the actors under hypnosis in every shot!! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Thanks for the info. Yup, watching the commentary tonite. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: cold Ethel

Postby Sepka » Sat Sep 09, 2006 2:45 am

Et said: <!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>What a profoundly psychotic question, and I mean that in a literal sense.. <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Why do you think so? I'm reasoning that sexual assault can take place only against a person, and a corpse is no longer a person. I'd bet money that if the charge goes to trial, the defendants' lawyers will make a similar argument.<br><br>The part that intrigues me is that I'm quite sure the DA will have thought of that also. Why, then, did he levy the charge? <br><br> <p>-Sepka the Space Weasel</p><i></i>
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Re: cold Ethel

Postby Sepka » Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:18 pm

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060916/ap_on_re_us/wisconsin_necrophilia">news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060...ecrophilia</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Charges dropped in Wis. necrophilia case</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>LANCASTER, Wis. - A judge on Friday dismissed charges of attempted sexual assault against three men accused of trying to dig up a woman's body to have sex with the corpse, noting that Wisconsin has no law against necrophilia.<br><br>The men still face lesser charges.<br>[...]<br>Circuit Judge George Curry said that while there was no law that addressed necrophilia, there was enough evidence to continue the case because of criminal damage to property and the alleged attempt to break into a burial vault.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p>-Sepka the Space Weasel</p><i></i>
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Postby miniver » Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:29 pm

The prosecutor (state) actually appealed that judge's ruling; the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District IV) finally decided the matter just over a month ago, and upheld the circuit court judge's ruling.

The following is the Court of Appeals' rationale for its position.

COURT OF APPEALS

DECISION

DATED AND FILED

July 26, 2007

David R. Schanker

Clerk of Court of Appeals

Appeal Nos.

2006AP2744-CR

2006AP2745-CR

2006AP2746-CR


Cir. Ct. Nos. 2006CF140A 2006CF140B 2006CF140C

STATE OF WISCONSIN
IN COURT OF APPEALS

DISTRICT IV


No. 2006AP2744-CR



State of Wisconsin,



Plaintiff-Appellant,



v.



Alexander Caleb Grunke,



Defendant-Respondent.



No. 2006AP2745-CR



State of Wisconsin,



Plaintiff-Appellant,



v.



Nicholas Owen Grunke,



Defendant-Respondent.




No. 2006AP2746-CR



State of Wisconsin,



Plaintiff-Appellant,



v.



Dustin Blake Radke,



Defendant-Respondent.














APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Grant County: George S. Curry, Judge. Affirmed.

Before Dykman, Vergeront and Higginbotham, JJ.

¶1 DYKMAN, J. The State appeals from an order dismissing one count of attempted third-degree sexual assault contrary to Wis. Stat. § 940.225(3) (2005-06)[1] against Nicholas Grunke, Alexander Grunke, and Dustin Radke. The State asserts that the circuit court erred in concluding that § 940.225(7) allows prosecution for the sexual assault of a dead body only if the defendant committed the sexual assault in a series of acts including acts that caused the death of the victim. The State argues that § 940.225(7) unambiguously allows prosecution for the sexual assault of a dead body without limitation to the defendant’s involvement in the death of the victim. We conclude that § 940.225(7) is ambiguous because it is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation. We conclude that the more reasonable interpretation is that § 940.225(7) was intended by the legislature to allow a sexual assault charge to succeed where a defendant sexually assaulted and caused the death of his victim and the sequence of events is unclear, rather than to criminalize necrophilia generally. Accordingly, we affirm.

Background

¶2 The following facts are undisputed for purposes of this appeal. In the late evening of September 2, 2006, Alexander Grunke, Nicholas Grunke, and Dustin Radke went to a cemetery in Cassville, Wisconsin, intending to remove the body of L.T. from her grave so that Nicholas Grunke could engage in sexual intercourse with the corpse. The three men used shovels to reach L.T.’s grave, but were interrupted in their plans because a vehicle drove into the cemetery and they ran away.

¶3 The defendants[2] were charged with damage to cemetery property, contrary to Wis. Stat. § 943.012(1) and (2), attempted criminal damage to property, contrary to Wis. Stat. §§ 943.01 and 939.32, and attempted third-degree sexual assault, as a party to a crime, contrary to Wis. Stat. §§ 940.225(3), 939.05, and 939.32. After a preliminary hearing, the circuit court denied bindover for the charge of attempted third-degree sexual assault, finding that the sexual assault statute did not apply to sexual intercourse with a corpse. The State appeals.

Discussion

¶4 The sole issue presented in this appeal is whether Wisconsin’s sexual assault statute, Wis. Stat. § 940.225, criminalizes sexual intercourse with a corpse where the defendant was not involved in the individual’s death and the corpse was already buried before the sexual act. We independently interpret statutes and determine their application to the facts of a particular case. McNeil v. Hansen, 2007 WI 56, ¶7, _Wis. 2d_, 731 N.W.2d 273.

¶5 We are obligated to interpret Wis. Stat. § 940.225 to give effect to the law as enacted by the legislature, and “to determine what the statute means so that it may be given its full, proper, and intended effect.” See State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, 2004 WI 58, ¶44, 271 Wis. 2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110. The first step in our interpretation of § 940.225 is to determine whether the statute is ambiguous. See Kalal, 271 Wis. 2d 633, ¶¶44-46. We begin with the language of the statute, and “[w]e assume that the legislature’s intent is expressed in the statutory language.” Id., ¶44.

¶6 The disputed provision is Wis. Stat. § 940.225(7), which provides: “Death of victim. This section applies whether a victim is dead or alive at the time of the sexual contact or sexual intercourse.” The State argues that the plain language of this subsection makes the entire sexual assault statute applicable whenever a defendant sexually assaults a dead body, regardless of the surrounding circumstances. While this argument is appealing on its face, our inquiry is not limited to the words in subsection (7). Instead, our reading of the plain language of subsection (7) requires that we read it “in the context in which it is used; not in isolation but as part of a whole; in relation to the language of surrounding or closely-related statutes; and reasonably, to avoid absurd or unreasonable results.” See Kalal, 271 Wis. 2d 633, ¶46. We also examine the “scope, context, and purpose” of the statute “as long as the scope, context, and purpose are ascertainable from the text and structure of the statute itself.” Id., ¶48. It is only “f this process of analysis yields a plain, clear statutory meaning” that the provision is unambiguous. Id. at ¶46 (citation omitted).

¶7 If, after this analysis, a statute “is capable of being understood by reasonably well-informed persons in two or more senses,” the statute is ambiguous. Id., ¶47. If we find a statute is ambiguous, we resort to extrinsic sources such as legislative history to ascertain its meaning. Id., ¶51.

¶8 Thus, we turn to the scope, context, and purpose of the sexual assault statute, to the extent it is ascertainable from the text. While “[s]ome statutes contain explicit statements of legislative purpose or scope,” sometimes “[a] statute’s purpose or scope may be readily apparent from its plain language or its relationship to surrounding or closely-related statutes—that is, from its context or the structure of the statute as a coherent whole.” Kalal, 271 Wis. 2d 633, ¶49. Wisconsin Stat. § 940.225 does not contain an express statement of its purpose, but it is ascertainable from the context of the statute and has been recognized by the supreme court.[3] Section 940.225 is contained within Wis. Stat. ch. 940, Crimes Against Life and Bodily Security. It is further located within subchapter II, Bodily Security. The supreme court has said that the enactment of the current sexual assault statute reflected the legislature’s recognition that “what had previously been referred to as crimes against sexual morality.…[,] when coupled with force[,] constituted dangerous threats to life and bodily security.” State v. Eisch, 96 Wis. 2d 25, 37-38, 291 N.W.2d 800 (1980). It has also said that § 940.225 is “primarily directed at protecting one's freedom from sexual assault.” State v. Sauceda, 168 Wis. 2d 486, 497, 485 N.W.2d 1 (1992). Thus, the legislative purpose of § 940.225 is to protect an individual from threats against bodily security. While sexual intercourse with a corpse unquestionably presents a case of sexual immorality, the relevant question is whether sexual intercourse with a corpse, unrelated to the individual’s death, is an activity the legislature intended to proscribe in a statute geared toward protecting bodily security.

¶9 We begin with the structure of the sexual assault statute. Section 940.225 protects bodily security by prohibiting three degrees of sexual assault, each of which requires an absence of consent by the victim. Here, Grunke was charged with third-degree sexual assault, which provides: “Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person without the consent of that person is guilty of a Class G felony….” Subsection (4) explains: “‘Consent,’ as used in this section, means words or overt actions by a person who is competent to give informed consent indicating a freely given agreement to have sexual intercourse or sexual contact.” The subsection further specifies that “[c]onsent is not an issue in alleged violations of sub. (2)(c), (cm), (d), (g), (h), and (i).” The enumerated subsections prohibit sexual contact or sexual intercourse with an individual who cannot give consent due to mental illness, intoxication, or unconsciousness; or where the defendant is an employee of certain facilities or programs and the victim is a patient or resident, if the defendant is a staff member at a correctional institution and the victim is an inmate, or if the defendant is a parole, probation, or extended supervision agent who supervises the victim.

¶10 Consent, therefore, is defined as words or actions and distinguished from instances in which consent will not be an issue because the victim is incapable of giving consent. The implication is that in circumstances not listed as excluding the issue of consent, the victim was capable of giving consent through words or actions. Because a corpse can never give consent through words or actions and death is not one of the instances listed in which consent is not an issue,[4] but at the same time subsection (7) states that the entire section applies whether the victim is dead or alive at the time of the sexual contact or sexual intercourse, the interaction of these subsections creates an ambiguity.[5]

¶11 Thus, viewing the entire statute in context and in light of its purpose of protecting bodily security, we conclude that the statute is ambiguous. The interpretation posited by the State—that it is irrelevant whether the defendant played a role in the death of the victim, and that the statute criminalizes necrophilia generally—is a reasonable interpretation. Indeed, the language in subsection (7) appears on its face to criminalize sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person who is dead, and contains no limiting language. However, we agree with Grunke that the statute is rendered ambiguous when read in its entirety, so that his interpretation—that subsection (7) is limited to criminalizing the act of sexually assaulting and causing the death of a person who is alive at the beginning of the course of events and dead at the conclusion, regardless of when the victim’s death occurs in that series of events—is also a reasonable interpretation. This interpretation gives effect to the concept of consent contained in § 940.225(3). It is also supported by the title to subsection (7), “Death of Victim,” which implies that the victim dies during the assault.[6] Because we conclude that the statute is ambiguous, we turn to legislative history to aid our analysis.

¶12 Wisconsin Stat. § 940.225 was first enacted in 1976. Laws of 1975, ch. 184, § 5. Subsection (7) was added to the statute in 1986. 1985 Wis. Act 134. A Drafter’s Note in the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau drafting file for that provision states: “Problem—don’t want prosecutions to fail because the DA has to prove that victim was alive at the time SA took place—Have statute so that DA does not have to prove that victim was alive or dead.” We agree with Grunke that the timing of the amendment and the comment in the drafting file indicate that the amendment was intended to prevent the defense recognized the previous year in State v. Holt, 128 Wis. 2d 110, 382 N.W.2d 679 (Ct. App. 1985).

¶13 Holt was convicted of first-degree murder under Wis. Stat. § 940.01(1) (1983-84) and first-degree sexual assault under Wis. Stat. § 940.225(1)(a) (1983-84). Id. at 116. Holt followed a woman as she left a bar, forced her into his car, and then sexually assaulted and killed her. Id. at 116-17. Holt argued that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of sexual assault because the State did not present adequate evidence establishing that the victim was alive if and when the sexual assault occurred. Id. at 121. The State agreed that the sexual assault statutes as they then existed did not allow conviction for sexual assault if the sexual assault occurred after the victim died, but argued that the jury could have inferred from the evidence that the victim was alive when Holt sexually assaulted her. Id.

¶14 We concluded that “in a rape-murder case where the exact sequence of events cannot be proved, the jury may reasonably infer, though it need not do so, that the victim was alive during the sexual assault, at least in the absence of evidence of necrophilic tendencies on the part of the accused.” Id. We stated that if, as Holt argued, a defendant does not realize a victim is dead when he sexually assaults her, “the defendant is free to conduct his defense accordingly, and the jury is free to believe him.” Id. Thus, Holt established that Wis. Stat. § 940.225, prior to the enactment of subsection (7), required the prosecution to prove that the victim was still alive when the sexual assault took place in order to obtain a conviction. The enactment of subsection (7) the following year, with the drafting file showing that it was intended to address the problem of a prosecutor’s having to prove that a victim was alive when the sexual assault occurred, indicates that the legislature was trying to prevent the Holt defense from preventing convictions.

¶15 In contrast, the act of recovering a corpse from a grave to engage in sexual intercourse with the corpse does not present the problem of the prosecutor having to prove that the victim was alive at the time of sexual intercourse. If the legislature had intended to allow prosecutions for sexual assault regardless of the circumstances under which the defendant obtained the corpse, it would not have identified the problem being addressed as a prosecutor’s having to prove whether the victim was alive during the sexual assault. Thus, we conclude that the legislature did not enact Wis. Stat. § 940.225(7) as a general necrophilia statute, which would criminalize Grunke’s conduct. Accordingly, we affirm.

By the Court.—Order affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.







[1] All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2005-06 version unless otherwise noted.

[2] Each defendant is separately represented, although their cases are consolidated on appeal. For the remainder of this opinion, we refer to the defendants collectively as “Grunke,” and address the arguments raised by each without distinction.

[3] We recognize that the supreme court’s statements as to the purpose of Wis. Stat. § 940.225 are not “ascertainable from the text” of the statute itself. However, because we are not free to disregard language of the supreme court, Cook v. Cook, 208 Wis. 2d 166, 189, 560 N.W.2d 246 (1997), we are bound by its interpretation of the purpose of the statute. Otherwise, we would be free to conclude that the primary purpose of § 940.225 is contrary to the purpose found by the supreme court, which is impermissible under Cook. We also recognize that State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, 2004 WI 58, 271 Wis. 2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110, did not specify whether prior case law is an extrinsic source that may not be consulted absent a finding of statutory ambiguity, and that there has been some disagreement as to the scope of extrinsic sources. See Wisconsin Dep’t of Revenue v. River City Refuse Removal, Inc., 2007 WI 27, ¶81 n.1, _Wis. 2d _, 729 N.W.2d 396 (Abrahamson, C.J., dissenting) (“I wonder whether under the majority’s rubric prior case law interpreting a statute in question would also be considered an ‘extrinsic source,’ to be used only when a statute is deemed ambiguous.”). We conclude that the better approach for the court of appeals is to consider prior case law stating the purpose of a statute in interpreting its plain meaning, so as to adhere to the clear mandate in Cook.

[4] We agree with Grunke that the term “unconsciousness” cannot reasonably be read to include death. Moreover, the State did not charge Grunke with violating Wis. Stat. § 940.225(2)(d), which prohibits sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person the defendant knows is unconscious.

[5] The circuit court found that Wis. Stat. § 940.225(7) requires a “victim,” which is defined in Wis. Stat. § 940.41(2) as a “natural person,” and that a corpse is “human remains” as defined under Wis. Stat. § 157.061(8), rather than a natural person. We agree with the State that this reasoning is flawed in that § 940.41 expressly applies only to Wis. Stat. §§ 940.42 and 940.49. However, we share the circuit court’s concern that there is a factual distinction between a victim who has died and a corpse or human remains. The State’s interpretation disregards this distinction.

[6] “Although the title is not part of the statute it may be persuasive of the interpretation to be given the statute.” Mireles v. LIRC, 2000 WI 96, ¶60 n.13, 237 Wis. 2d 69, 613 N.W.2d 875 (citation omitted).



[i]From here:


http://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/Disp ... eqNo=29824
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Postby MinM » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:41 am

Bergen man to get time served for sex with corpse

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 10, 2008

HACKENSACK — A former lab technician who was caught having sex with a corpse in a hospital morgue is likely to receive time served as his punishment.

A judge on Tuesday sentenced Anthony Merino to seven years in prison. But under a complex plea deal, he will be able to seek a reduced sentence next month.

He has already been in jail since his arrest in October 2007.

The 25-year-old had admitted sexually penetrating the corpse of a 92-year-old woman at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck. A hospital security guard caught him in the act.

Two psychiatrists said in separate reports that Merino needs psychological help and the plea agreement calls for therapy.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... S/80910048
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