A question of consent: “The case has produced no evidence thus far that the couple’s love faded, that Donna failed to recognize her husband or that she asked that he not touch her, said Rayhons’ son Dale Rayhons, a paramedic and the family’s unofficial spokesman.” Mrs. Rayhons, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, is dead now and can’t testify. “In interviews, Rayhons said his life and reputation are already ruined. … He says he’s most distraught about being kept from Donna during the last weeks of her life.” [Bryan Gruley, Bloomberg, via @amyalkon] (& Scott Greenfield, Eugene Volokh)
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[…] H/T Walter Olson at Overlawyered […]
Is it a coincidence that the attorney general is a Democrat and the man charged was a Republican legislator?
At first reading, the prosecutor should be hanged higher than Haman, and the nursing home sued out of existence. Nevertheless, more background would be useful.
Was the wife substantially richer than the husband when they married six years ago? Were her daughters resentful that her remarriage might dilute their inheritance? Since the husband was a State legislator, it sounds like he was a real companion, not an empty gold-digger.
Was the wife of sound mind when she entered into the marriage? Or was she already well into dementia?
Were he and his wife’s daughters antagonistic from the beginning? Were there other issues besides his wife’s money?
When the daughters’ agents removed the wife from her home, had she summoned them? Was she in an obvious condition of neglect? Or was this a kidnaping for which the parties should be prosecuted?
When two parties are married, the prosecution should be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an alleged rape victim opposed sex; I gather from the article that there is no such proof at all. The nursing home’s no-matrimonial-sex policy, even in a private room, is appropriate for a prison, but not for a caring facility. Perhaps, though, it suited the interests of the daughters: the sooner their mother died of a broken heart, the sooner they could collect their inheritance. (caveat: I have no proof that that was their motive.)
[…] friend Walter Olson who runs Overlawyered.com posted a link to the tragic tale of the family of Iowa State Representative Henry V. Rayhons (R) and his […]
I don’t see anywhere in the story where power of attorney or guardianship is addressed. Is there a lawyer who can address whether a spouse is the first default guardian in the event of incapacity.
The daughters physically took mom and placed her in a home. Was this with her consent, and did she then have capacity to consent. If she then did not have capacity, who was the legal guardian who could place her in the home.