Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning Wednesday stood by his decision to file a rape charge against a 22-year-old Falls City man who married his pregnant, 14-year-old girlfriend.

Bruning announced Tuesday his office had charged Matthew Koso with one count of first-degree sexual assault. The charge is a felony, punishable by up to 50 years in prison.

Koso reportedly began a sexual relationship with the girl when he was 19 and she was 12. They married May 3 in Hiawatha, Kan. The girl's baby is due next month.

Koso and the girl are living with his family in Falls City.

On Wednesday, Falls City attorney Willis Yoesel, who is representing Koso, questioned Bruning's decision to file the charge.

Yoesel said Koso has "accepted responsibility" for getting the girl pregnant. The couple and their families are "trying to make the best of a bad situation," he said.

"I don't know what the objective (of the charge) is," he said.

"I just don't think it makes any sense. My question is, ‘Why?'"

Responded Bruning: "Because in Nebraska we don't allow grown men to have sex with children.

"She (the girl) no doubt thinks she loves him. But we as a society decided that children cannot give their consent to certain acts."

Bruning said Richardson County Attorney Jeffrey Goltz was still reviewing the case when Bruning's office decided to intervene. He said Goltz had made no decision on whether to file a charge.

Goltz, through a spokeswoman, declined comment Wednesday.

Bruning said the relationship began when the girl was in seventh grade. He said Koso and the girl's older step- or half-brother were friends.

When the girl's mother became aware of the relationship, Bruning said, she tried to stop it. In September, she obtained a protection order in Richardson County District Court against Koso on behalf of her daughter.

But that did not end the relationship, Bruning said.

"She (the girl) would sneak out at night and have sex with him," Bruning said.

The mother withdrew the protection order in May after Koso and the girl married.

Bruning characterized the girl as "bright" and he rejected earlier characterizations of Koso as mentally challenged.

"He knew exactly what he was doing," Bruning said. "He's got a driver's license, a job. He drives to and from work.

"To say he's ‘slow,' I don't know what that means."

Yoesel on Wednesday called Koso mentally slow, but he said Koso's intellectual level would play no role in how the attorney prepared a defense. Koso's mental competence might only come into play at the potential sentencing, Yoesel said.

Koso's next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 17 in Richardson County Court.

Kansas law permits people as young as 12 to get married with parental consent. Nebraska law prohibits marriage between juveniles 16 and younger, even with parental consent.

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