Williams v. State, 494 So.2d 819 (Ala. 1986)
In Williams v. State, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals examined the constitutionality of the state’s forcible sodomy statute, which excluded married individuals from prosecution for forcibly sodomizing their spouses.
Mr. Williams was convicted of burglary and sodomy. The first-degree sodomy charges were initially nol. prossed. However, the State of Alabama motioned to reinstate the sodomy indictment, and this motion was granted by the Montgomery Circuit Court.
On appeal, the Court affirmed Williams’ convictions, holding that the fact that the sodomy charge had been nol. prossed did not prevent additional proceedings on that charge. His re-indictment on the sodomy charge did not violate the double jeopardy clause, because he was not prosecuted twice. Williams also challenged the sodomy conviction as unconstitutional because the definition of "deviate sexual intercourse" as defined by Ala. Code § 13A-60-60(2) provided a "marital exemption" and that the statute violated equal protection by distinguishing between married and unmarried persons. The Court agreed, holding that the marital exemption lacked any rational basis. The Court rejected the historical justifications for the exemption, including implied marital consent, protection of marital privacy, preservation of domestic harmony, evidentiary difficulties, and reliance on alternative assault statutes. The Court emphasized that marriage does not extinguish a person’s right to bodily autonomy, and that marital privacy cannot be invoked to shield acts of violence. Finding that no legitimate state interest justified the differential treatment, the Court struck down the marital exemption as unconstitutional and severed it from the statute. The convictions were upheld. The decision recognized that the right to personal security and sexual autonomy extends equally to married and unmarried victims of sexual violence.
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- 1986
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