Montini: Vacation? No. On the lam for diaper changing

I was out of Arizona for several days when I was advised by a friend (Or is he now an accessory after the fact?) to reconsider returning since I am no longer on vacation but on the lam for a felony rap.

“Have you seen your grandson?” the friend wrote in an email.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Have you changed his diaper?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Guilty, according to the Arizona Supreme Court,” he said. “If you dare to return prepare to spend your twilight years in the Big House, where most people believe you belong anyway.”

Most people?

Unless we’re talking about my immediate family I’d call that an exaggeration.

County attorney says it's all nonsense

Nevertheless it was unnerving to learn that the state Supreme Court ruled the Legislature intentionally did not include intent in its definition of molestation; meaning prosecutors are not required to prove intent in such cases; meaning a parent (or grandparent) changing a diaper could be guilty of molestation under a strict interpretation of the law.

Defense attorneys are troubled by this.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery finds such concerns ridiculous and, even, insulting.

“It is important for our community to understand no parent has ever been charged with a crime for simply changing a diaper, bathing a child, or tending to the medical needs and this decision does not change that,” he said. “It is incredibly insulting to believe any prosecutor reviewing a case for charging would not be able to tell the difference between an adult taking proper care of a child and the molestation of a child victim.”

I agree. It would be insulting to believe any prosecutor would not know the difference.

Instead, the concern some people might have would be that a prosecutor or estranged spouse or someone else with a vendetta might know the difference and not care.

But law could give angry exes ammo

Criminal defense attorney Russ Richelsoph put it this way, "Sex crimes against children are so loaded. If you are charged, I don't care if you are innocent or not, the bell has been rung. Your reputation is destroyed. The public assumes if somebody's charged with a crime, they did it."

He added, “Physicians get accused of molesting children. Parents, especially in divorce situations, get accused of molesting children. And then you have someone spending a lot of money on a private defense attorney or having to get a public defender. It's an expensive, stressful process."

It’s true.

And while I understand and appreciate Montgomery’s point about common sense and honorable prosecutors it might not be a bad idea, now that the state Supreme Court has ruled, for the Legislature to amend the law to include “intent” in the definition of molestation.

That way, all good families can rest easy.

And otherwise law abiding Arizonans like me, who are taking a few days off to spend with family, including a baby, can think of ourselves as being on vacation instead of having fled the state to avoid prosecution.