Suzanne Corona: Jail for adultery?

In an all too public scandal, a mother-of-three cheated on her husband. Now, a rarely-invoked New York law could send her to prison for her indiscretions

Suzanne Corona.
(Image credit: Batavia Police Department)

A quiet New York town got a lot less quiet this week after a married woman became only the 13th person to be charged with adultery in the state for almost 40 years. Suzanne Corona, 41, allegedly had sex with 29-year-old Justin Amend on top of the picnic table of a Batavia, NY, public park, in view of several mothers and children. While police also charged the pair with public lewdness, it's the adultery charge (which could lead to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine) that's troubling commentators. Do we need adultery laws in 2010? (Watch a local report about Corona's crime)

It's any woman's right to commit adultery: "There's no defense for cheating," says Jeanne Sager in the Cafemom blog, The Stir, "but this smacks of a woman being persecuted for her sexual proclivities." Corona reportedly attempted to defend herself, saying that her husband is transgender and that they no longer have sex, but why should she need to offer any defense? "It's up to a woman to consent to have sex with whomever she pleases and for her and her spouse to deal with the consequences."

"Sex romp in park ends with rare adultery charge"

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Score a point for common decency: Corona deserves what's coming to her for her "lack of modesty," says Joanne Thomas at Right Pundits. "Personally, I'm glad to see the adultery charge — it might stop someone else from pulling the same stunt." People need to learn that they have no right to impose their loose morals on an "unsuspecting public." Ninety days in jail would give Corona valuable time to think.

"Suzanne Corona: Woman faces adultery charge in New York"

"Sin" laws belong nowhere in our legislation: "Adultery should be a issue of morality and not legality," says Andrew Kuhn in a reader editorial at the Democrat and Chronicle. Citing it as a crime is "yet another example of the government imposing Christian morals onto its citizens." Adultery is, after all, nothing more than dishonesty, and if that were a crime, nearly all United States politicians would be in prison."

"Reader responds to adultery charges"

Corona's really being punished for being a "cougar": Let's hope this is just a case of an overzealous officer, says Anna N. at Jezebel, but the age difference between Corona and her lover probably came into play. "Maybe the sight of a woman having sex in public with a younger man was more shocking" than the textbook adultery scenario, "a man cheating on his wife with a hot young thing." Fortunately, there's another gender reversal at work: Corona's husband is faithfully standing by his woman, "flipping the traditional wronged-wife script" as he asks that charges against his wife be dropped.

"Women charged with adultery after having sex in park"

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