FALLS CITY — A Nebraska judge, unmoved by emotional testimony about a married couple’s love for each other, sentenced the husband Tuesday to 18 to 30 months in prison for having sex with the underage woman. Related: Attorney General Jon Bruning comments | Photo gallery of sentencing | A hard day for Koso family

Richardson County District Judge Daniel Bryan, in sentencing Matthew Koso, 23, of Falls City, said the criminal law in the case was “very plain and direct.”

“Marriage can’t cover up a crime, and it can’t make it go away,” Bryan said.

Koso pleaded guilty in December to first-degree sexual assault for having sex with the girl, Crystal, whom he later married. The sexual relationship began in 2004 when he was 21 and she was 13.

Nebraska law forbids sexual relations between adults 19 and older and children under 16.

Koso and the girl married in Kansas in May 2005 with the girl’s mother’s consent. Crystal Koso gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Samara, that September.

Kansas does not have a minimum age to marry, though parental consent or court approval is required for minors. A bill now before the Kansas Legislature, however, would ban anyone 15 and under from getting married.

Nebraska law forbids people 16 and under from marrying.

The charge against Koso, filed in July by Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, drew national media attention, as well as criticism of Bruning by some who said prosecution would only complicate the young couple’s lives.

On Tuesday, Bruning again defended his decision to charge Koso.

“Protecting our children is one of the most important things we do,” he said. “Nebraska law is clear that a 22-year-old man cannot have sex with a 14-year-old child, regardless of whether it’s consensual.”

Bruning, whose office did not make a sentencing recommendation to Bryan, said the penalty imposed Tuesday was a “fair and reasonable” one.

Koso could have received up to 50 years in prison.

His attorney, Willis Yoesel of Falls City, said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the sentence.

Yoesel asked Bryan at the sentencing hearing to impose a sentence of probation that Yoesel said would require Koso “to continue to love and care for his family.”

Koso will be eligible for parole in nine months.

In comments after the sentencing hearing, Yoesel criticized the sexual assault statute at the center of the case as too “inflexible.”

He said the law only considers the ages of the defendants and victims but does not consider their intent or whether the outlawed act involved malice.

“The only elements are the ages of the parties,” he said. “I don’t know how you’d phrase it, but there should be some exceptions in the law.”

Yoesel made the same argument to Bryan during the hearing.

“The male is 19, the female under 16,” Yoesel said. “Therefore it is illegal … The law does not allow any leeway.”

Yoesel asked Bryan to consider the couple’s love for each other and for their child. Koso, Yoesel said to Bryan, once told the attorney that the happiest days of Koso’s life were when he married his wife and when their child was born.

Later, Yoesel asked the judge why Koso should serve any prison time, given that the only “victim” in the case is his wife.

Yoesel said Koso, now a convicted felon who will have to register as a sex offender, has already been punished enough.

“I don’t know what further punishment he deserves,” Yoesel said.

Koso, seated next to Yoesel at the defense table, declined to speak. Crystal and Peggy Koso, his mother, made impassioned pleas for leniency, however.

“I loved my husband way before I got pregnant,” Crystal Koso, 15, said. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what this (potential prison time) is supposed to do.

“You can either send him away to jail, or let him come home (with) us.”

Peggy Koso said her son always struggled in school and did not fit in with his age peers.

“When he met Crystal, he found a purpose,” she said. “I don’t think sending him to prison is a solution.”

Yoesel, seemingly in an attempt to diminish Crystal’s status as a victim in the case, said she, and not Matthew, was the more mature partner in the relationship.

“He’s 23, (but) his level of maturity is much lower than his age,” Yoesel said.

On the other hand, he said, “Crystal is quite mature. In many ways (she is) in control of the relationship.”

Bryan appeared to dismiss the characterization as irrelevant. He also gave little weight to Crystal’s and Peggy Koso’s statements about the couple’s love for each other.

“A child is a child” in Nebraska law, he said earlier, and cannot give his or her consent to have sex with an adult, “regardless of love.”

Bryan noted that Koso repeatedly violated a protection order taken out by Crystal’s mother in September 2004. The mother rescinded the order a few days after the marriage.

The judge also said Koso had a history of pursuing underage girls, including 12- and 14-year-old girls Koso tried to date when he was 19.

In addition, Bryan said, Koso continued to have sex with Crystal after Bruning charged him in July.

“The repetition of offenses is something I can’t ignore,” he said. “That’s behavior I cannot reward with probation.”

After the sentencing, Matthew and Crystal Koso embraced and, followed by family, walked into a room adjacent to the court.

Emergency medical workers were later summoned to the room after Matthew Koso apparently fainted. He was not hospitalized.

Yoesel, during and after the hearing, reiterated his contention that Koso’s case was selective prosecution.

“There’re myriad other occasions (like Koso’s),” he said in court.

“Why? Why was this particular case selected for prosecution?”

Bruning responded in an interview after the sentencing.

“Any time you break the law, you risk prosecution,” he said.

“He broke the law. Now he’s got to go to prison.”

Reach Butch Mabin at 473-7234 or bmabin@journalstar.com.