Kristilyn Smith Convicted of a Crime For Consensual Sex

To update a situation I last wrote about here, an adult woman plead no contest to charge of incest for having consensual sex with her father. At least she was given five years probation instead of prison time. The charge should have been dropped anyway. There were apparently crimes in this case. Consensual sex between adults shouldn’t have been the problem.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of child neglect and a second count of incest against Kristilyn Smith, 27, of Daytona Beach, bringing to an end the criminal cases against her. Circuit Judge Kim C. Hammond found Smith guilty of the remaining incest charge.

Judge Hammond, didn’t you feel silly convicting someone of a crime for having sex wth another adult?

The Flagler term of probation will run concurrent with 15 years' probation Smith received in August in Volusia County on another incest charge.

Earlier this year, her father, Alton E. Smith Jr., 48, pleaded guilty to two counts of incest, one count of living off the earnings of prostitution and 52 counts of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 15 years' sex-offender probation and will be required to register as a sex offender.

He should have gone away for at least that long just for the child porn.

He is also barred from having contact with his daughter or wife.

Ridiculous. I can see denying him contact to his son (he had with Kristilyn) until the son is an adult and can make up his own mind, but as for contact with his wife or Kristilyn, either we have freedom of association or we don’t. Either consensual sex between adults is not a criminal matter, or it is. It is time to consistent.

Also earlier this year, Tina Marie Smith, 45, who is Alton Smith's wife and Kristilyn Smith's stepmother, pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to 10 years' sex-offender probation. She will not be listed as a sex offender.

Throw the book at people who molest children. Don’t bother trying to stop consenting adults from sex or love with each other. Let’s remove incest laws or change them so they reinforce laws against rape and child molestation, not to consensual sex.

Update on Superfluous Incest Prosecution

In an update on something I wrote about previously, we get this headline: “Woman Enters Plea in Prostitution/Incest Case.”

A former Palm Coast woman who, in a case involving prostitution and incest gave birth to her father's son, has entered a plea of no contest to a felony charge of child neglect, prosecutors said.

So why isn’t the headline “Woman Pleads No Contest to Child Neglect?” The headline an this opening line are meant to tie consensual sex between adults – “incest” – to child neglect, as if someone was molesting the child.

Kristilyn Smith, 27, will be sentenced Aug. 31 in Volusia County circuit court for the second-degree felony. The no-contest plea is part of an agreement that will also resolve her criminal charges in Flagler County but prosecutors declined to provide any other information. She could be sentenced to anything from probation to 15 years in prison.

Her father, Alton E. Smith Jr., is serving a 15-year sentence and remains held at the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler.

Both the father and his wife, Tina Marie Smith, had been facing child pornography charges. He had a photography business, through which he took pictures of models of all ages.

Kristilyn Smith, who now lives in Daytona Beach, was charged with two counts of incest and one count of prostitution and one count of child neglect in Flagler County.

Child neglect is the real crime. The neglect seems to be from the father and daughter having sex in front of the child. Prosecutors should have gone ahead with the child porn charges against the father and his wife and dropped all “incest” charges. Exploiting children is certainly of more concern than consenting adults having sex, isn’t it?

Superfluous Prosecution of Consensual Sex

Here is an example of using unjust laws against consanguineous sex to superfluously punish someone. If someone like this Palm Coast, Florida man, Alton E. Smith, abuses children, then he should have the book thrown at him for doing so. He should get at least fifteen years in prison for abusing children. But why prosecute him for sex with a consenting adult? If the laws can be used against him, they can be used against anyone. The charges stem from his relationship with his adult daughter.

Alton E. Smith, 47, pleaded guilty to two counts of incest, one count of living off the earnings of prostitution and 52 counts of possession of child pornography. In addition to the 15-year prison sentence, Smith is expected to be placed on 15 years sex offender probation and be required to register as a sex offender, according to the plea agreement. He is also barred from having contact with his daughter or wife.

Unless he abused his wife and daughter and they requested protection, how can they justify barring contact?

Smith's plea brings closer to conclusion the sordid situation revealed by a Flagler County Sheriff's Office prostitution sting on Carlos Court in Palm Coast in December 2008.

Isn’t it time to decriminalize prostitution? Sure, go after abusive pimps for assault, threats, whatever, but consenting exchanges between adults are nobody else’s business.

Today's sentencing will leave only Alton Smith's daughter's case unresolved. His daughter is charged with three counts of incest, child neglect and prostitution.

If she neglected her child, then fine - she should be punished. But the incest and prostitution charges are ridiculous.