State v. Limon
| Matthew R. Limon | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
| Full case name | State v. Limon |
| Decided | October 21 2005 |
| Citation(s) | 280 Kan. 275, 122 P.3d 22 |
| Holding | |
| A state law allowing for lesser punishment for statutory rape convictions if the partners were of different sexes than if they were of the same sex was found unconstitutional under both the federal and Kansas state constitutions | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief Judge | Kay McFarland |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Marla J. Luckert |
| Davis, Gernon took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
State v. Limon (280 Kan. 275, 122 P.3d 22) is a 2005 Kansas Supreme Court case in which a state law allowing for lesser punishment for statutory rape convictions if the partners were of different sexes than if they were of the same sex was found unconstitutional under both the federal and Kansas state constitutions. It was among the first cases to cite the United States Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas as precedent, months after the Virginia Supreme Court did similarly in Martin v. Ziherl.
In February 2000, a week after his eighteenth birthday, Kansas resident Matthew R. Limon engaged in a consensual act of oral sex with a 14-year-old boy. The difference in their ages at the time of the act was three years, one month and a number of days. Under the state's Romeo and Juliet law (K.S.A. § 21-3522), the penalties for statutory rape are less severe if the incident involves two teenagers. The Kansas statute specifically excluded same-sex sexual conduct. Because of this exclusion, Limon was charged under K.S.A. § 21-3505(a)(2) with criminal sodomy.
Limon's attorneys filed a pretrial motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that K.S.A. § 21-3522 was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it discriminated on the basis of sex and sexual orientation. The motion was denied and Limon was convicted of criminal sodomy. He was sentenced to 17 years and two months in prison. Had the sexual encounter been between a male and female, the maximum sentence would have been 15 months. Limon was also required to register as a sex offender and to submit to five years of supervision upon release.
Limon appealed his case to the Kansas Court of Appeals, which affirmed his conviction citing Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), a United States Supreme Court case which upheld sodomy laws as constitutional. His appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court was also denied and Limon appealed to the United States Supreme Court in 2002.
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