Koso pleads guilty to child sex charge
A Falls City man who impregnated and later married his 14-year-old girlfriend pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault at a hearing Tuesday.
Richardson County District Judge Daniel Bryan Jr. accepted Matthew Koso’s plea and scheduled him for sentencing Feb. 7. Koso, 22, could receive a prison sentence of up to 50 years or probation.
Koso had been scheduled to go to trial on the charge Thursday. He declined to say why he changed his plea to guilty as he left the courtroom with his family and wife, Crystal Koso.
But his attorney, Willis Yoesel of Falls City, in limited comments after the hearing, said he advised Koso to plead guilty.
Yoesel, asked if Koso might receive probation, responded, “It’s possible.”
Koso’s mother, Peggy Koso of Falls City, said later the family hoped Matthew Koso will receive probation.
“(We) don’t know what Judge Bryan’s going to do,” she said. “But we’re just hoping he’ll look at the whole situation and decide to give Matt probation.”
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, whose office filed the charge against Koso last summer, said in a news conference Tuesday the plea was not part of a deal between his office and Yoesel.
Bruning said he would not make a sentencing recommendation to Judge Bryan. Koso, he said, did not deserve the maximum sentence. But probation also seemed inappropriate for Koso’s crime, he said.
“It seems to me more serious than that,” Bruning said.
“This case was not about two star-crossed lovers in a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet,” he said earlier in a news release. “This case was about a grown man having sex with a child.”
Bruning said Koso and the girl began having sex when he was 20 and she was 12. Nebraska law prohibits sex between adults 19 and older and juveniles under 16.
After Crystal became pregnant, the couple married in Hiawatha, Kan., in May. Kansas does not have a minimum age for marriage, although the state requires couples under 18 to get permission from their parents or guardians.
Nebraska requires people to be 17 or older to marry.
Bruning’s office got involved in the relationship after state social services workers learned about the girl’s pregnancy and reported it to law enforcement authorities. Bruning said Tuesday the Richardson County Attorney’s office had been reviewing the case at the time, but that office had not yet made a decision on whether to file a charge.
The county attorney agreed to turn the case over to Bruning’s office after it showed an interest, Bruning said Tuesday.
“It wasn’t that the Richardson County Attorney ... didn’t want to prosecute,” Bruning said. “He said (to our office), yeah, go ahead.”
The attorney general charged Koso in July. The charge garnered intense attention from national media, as well as criticism of Bruning by some who said the criminal prosecution was unnecessary and would only complicate the young couple’s lives.
On Tuesday, Bruning defended his decision to prosecute Koso.
“This office and I personally have a responsibility to protect Nebraska’s children,” he said.
“This was a clear violation of the law in this case, and I couldn’t ignore that ... The negative feedback doesn’t deter me at all.”
At the plea hearing, assistant Attorney General Matt Enenbach said the state would have presented evidence at trial that Koso confessed to an “intimate” relationship with the girl.
Enenbach, responding to thorough questioning from Bryan, acknowledged the ambiguous meaning of “intimate,” but he said that the state would show Koso used the word to refer to his sexual relationship with the girl.
The attorney also acknowledged that Koso has not said he was the child’s father. Bryan later asked Koso if he was the father. “Yes, sir,” he said.
Bryan ordered probation officers to prepare a pre-sentence investigation report to help the judge decide Koso’s sentence. He also ordered a mental health evaluation of Koso.
“If I don’t hear of any evidence of mental (disability) that will make a difference,” Bryan said.
Yoesel earlier declined Bryan’s offer to help him arrange a mental evaluation.
Bruning said at the news conference his office is continuing to review “dozens and dozens” of state birth records that might include men who fathered children with girls under 16.
But, he said, the office would not be ham-strung on cases similar to Koso’s, which can be prosecuted by local county attorneys.
“We’re not going to become a single-issue” office, he said.
Reach Butch Mabin at 473-7234 or at bmabin@journalstar.com. Journal Star reporter Colleen Kenney contributed to this report. An audio clip of Bruning's comments is available at http://www.ago.state.ne.us/content/sound_bits.html.
Richardson County District Judge Daniel Bryan Jr. accepted Matthew Koso’s plea and scheduled him for sentencing Feb. 7. Koso, 22, could receive a prison sentence of up to 50 years or probation.
Koso had been scheduled to go to trial on the charge Thursday. He declined to say why he changed his plea to guilty as he left the courtroom with his family and wife, Crystal Koso.
But his attorney, Willis Yoesel of Falls City, in limited comments after the hearing, said he advised Koso to plead guilty.
Yoesel, asked if Koso might receive probation, responded, “It’s possible.”
Koso’s mother, Peggy Koso of Falls City, said later the family hoped Matthew Koso will receive probation.
“(We) don’t know what Judge Bryan’s going to do,” she said. “But we’re just hoping he’ll look at the whole situation and decide to give Matt probation.”
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, whose office filed the charge against Koso last summer, said in a news conference Tuesday the plea was not part of a deal between his office and Yoesel.
Bruning said he would not make a sentencing recommendation to Judge Bryan. Koso, he said, did not deserve the maximum sentence. But probation also seemed inappropriate for Koso’s crime, he said.
“It seems to me more serious than that,” Bruning said.
“This case was not about two star-crossed lovers in a modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet,” he said earlier in a news release. “This case was about a grown man having sex with a child.”
Bruning said Koso and the girl began having sex when he was 20 and she was 12. Nebraska law prohibits sex between adults 19 and older and juveniles under 16.
After Crystal became pregnant, the couple married in Hiawatha, Kan., in May. Kansas does not have a minimum age for marriage, although the state requires couples under 18 to get permission from their parents or guardians.
Nebraska requires people to be 17 or older to marry.
Bruning’s office got involved in the relationship after state social services workers learned about the girl’s pregnancy and reported it to law enforcement authorities. Bruning said Tuesday the Richardson County Attorney’s office had been reviewing the case at the time, but that office had not yet made a decision on whether to file a charge.
The county attorney agreed to turn the case over to Bruning’s office after it showed an interest, Bruning said Tuesday.
“It wasn’t that the Richardson County Attorney ... didn’t want to prosecute,” Bruning said. “He said (to our office), yeah, go ahead.”
The attorney general charged Koso in July. The charge garnered intense attention from national media, as well as criticism of Bruning by some who said the criminal prosecution was unnecessary and would only complicate the young couple’s lives.
On Tuesday, Bruning defended his decision to prosecute Koso.
“This office and I personally have a responsibility to protect Nebraska’s children,” he said.
“This was a clear violation of the law in this case, and I couldn’t ignore that ... The negative feedback doesn’t deter me at all.”
At the plea hearing, assistant Attorney General Matt Enenbach said the state would have presented evidence at trial that Koso confessed to an “intimate” relationship with the girl.
Enenbach, responding to thorough questioning from Bryan, acknowledged the ambiguous meaning of “intimate,” but he said that the state would show Koso used the word to refer to his sexual relationship with the girl.
The attorney also acknowledged that Koso has not said he was the child’s father. Bryan later asked Koso if he was the father. “Yes, sir,” he said.
Bryan ordered probation officers to prepare a pre-sentence investigation report to help the judge decide Koso’s sentence. He also ordered a mental health evaluation of Koso.
“If I don’t hear of any evidence of mental (disability) that will make a difference,” Bryan said.
Yoesel earlier declined Bryan’s offer to help him arrange a mental evaluation.
Bruning said at the news conference his office is continuing to review “dozens and dozens” of state birth records that might include men who fathered children with girls under 16.
But, he said, the office would not be ham-strung on cases similar to Koso’s, which can be prosecuted by local county attorneys.
“We’re not going to become a single-issue” office, he said.
Reach Butch Mabin at 473-7234 or at bmabin@journalstar.com. Journal Star reporter Colleen Kenney contributed to this report. An audio clip of Bruning's comments is available at http://www.ago.state.ne.us/content/sound_bits.html.
Copyright © 2002-2009 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.