Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993 TAG: 9304290050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
Radford lawyer Jimmy Turk, hired by Gallimore two weeks ago, filed motions in Floyd County Circuit Court asking Judge Kenneth Devore to dismiss all charges against Gallimore.
"One thing about it," Floyd County prosecutor Gino Williams said, "the seduction law will be determined to be dead or alive for good in Virginia."
Gallimore is scheduled to be tried June 11 in Floyd County on suspicion of seduction - a Reconstruction-era law - and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor. The felony charges, which result from his unsanctioned marriage to 16-year-old Sabrina Simpkins, could put Gallimore in prison for 30 years.
Turk said he spent last weekend looking at the legal statutes of every state; Virginia and South Carolina are the only states that still have seduction laws.
No one in the United States has been prosecuted for seduction in 30 years, Turk said. The seduction law, on the books since 1887, was designed to keep smooth-talking Northerners from taking advantage of innocent Virginia women. It makes it illegal for a man "to seduce and have illicit connection with any unmarried female of previous chaste character."
"It is a violation of equal protection," Turk said of the law. "It sets forth a crime that discriminates against men on the basis of their gender." The law does not apply to women who seduce men.
Members of the Beyer Commission, a panel formed to hone Virginia's sexual-assault laws, had proposed dropping the law. The commission decided to back off after Williams charged Gallimore in February.
Williams has said that his overriding interest is 44-year-old Gallimore's involvement with a minor. Turk said Simpkins, a junior at Floyd County High School and a member of Gallimore's church, is old enough to legally consent to sex.
"Representing the commonwealth, I disagree with that or we wouldn't be here," Williams said.
In addition to violating Gallimore's and Simpkins' privacy rights, Williams' prosecution of Gallimore also ignores the preacher's First Amendment right of freedom of religion, Turk said.
"The state is saying he can believe and say anything he wants to but, `We're not going to recognize his religious beliefs,' " Turk said.
He has asked the court to hear his motions May 28. In addition to asking for the charges to be dismissed, he has asked that the trial be moved out of Floyd County.
Turk said excessive publicity has caused the public to be "so poisoned and prejudiced by exaggerated rumors in the newspapers and local press" that Gallimore would not be able to get a fair trial.
by CNB