Utah mom in court, charged with sex crime after her kids saw her topless at home
Tilli Buchanan, a 28-year-old mom from Utah is being vilified in the courts because her stepchildren saw her topless. The incident happened over a year ago in the privacy of the woman’s home. Buchanan is now appearing in court in an attempt to stay off the sex offender’s registry.
In February, Buchanan was charged with three counts of misdemeanor lewdness involving a child. Those charges came after child welfare officials began an investigation involving the kids that wasn’t tied to Buchanan – and after the children’s biological mother reported the incident to authorities because she was “alarmed.” ~ CBS News
Buchanan and her attorneys are trying to get the charges against her overturned, arguing that a portion of the lewdness law as it pertains to Buchanan is unconstitutional. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are arguing that “nudity is commonly understood to include women’s breasts in American society and that courts have upheld laws based on morality.”
Buchanan was in court on November 19. The judge hearing the case postponed any final decisions on the matter saying that the issues involved were all too important, and that her final ruling would take a few months.
The legal woes for Buchanan began when she and her husband were working in their garage hanging drywall and took their shirts off so their clothes wouldn’t get dirty and dusty. Their three kids, ages nine, 10 and 13, walked into the garage and saw both of their parents “topless.”
When the kids asked why mom wasn’t wearing a shirt, she replied: “This isn’t a sexual thing,” she recalled telling the children. “I should be able to wear exactly what my husband wears. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about this.”
After the children’s biological mother heard about the incident, she mentioned it to children’s services, saying she was “alarmed”, according to Fox News.
“What’s important to look at, to see when you look at the statute, is that there’s part of it that says this part of a woman is inherently obscene and this part of a man isn’t,” said Leah Farrell, the senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah who argued on Buchanan’s behalf.
“And that really sets up an unequal, unfair dichotomy.” ~ Deseret News
Supporters of Buchanan, and most media outlets, are quick to report that although the father was also topless, he isn’t facing any charges. If found guilty on the three counts of misdemeanor lewdness involving a child, the Utah mom would have to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years.
For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.
~ Posted by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
