Aspies For Freedom

A former municipal judge in Dunn County is charged with sexually assaulting an autistic man.
A criminal complaint says former Colfax judge Eugene Dunagan fondled the man and performed a sex act at Dunagan's home last year.

The 22-year-old man told police he often would go to Dunagan's home to do chores. And during one visit he was shown pornography and on another visit molested.

The 69-year-old defendant is charged with second-degree sexual assault of a mentally deficient person. His initial appearance is scheduled April eleventh.

A psychiatrist told police the man is autistic and incapable of appraising his conduct.

Dunagan was elected Colfax municipal judge in 1984 and served for about 20 years.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press.

This is disturbing.  Have we reached the point where an autism diagnosis, without any official hearing ever being held on the issue of competency, is all it takes for an adult to be classified as mentally deficient and incapable of consenting to sexual acts?

If that 22-year-old man had problems finding a girlfriend before, he's certainly never going to find one now.  

Who's conduct is the autistic man "incapable of appraising"? - his own or the judge's? If he is "incapable of appraising" the conduct of the old judge, then how does anyone know that an offence took place? Who made the complaint? If the autistic man made the complaint to the police, why did he do that if he was incapable of understanding what went on? Or is the argument that the autistic man didn't know what he was getting conned into?

This is a fine example of neurotypical journalism at it's worst - emotive and sordid details are covered nicely, but many of the most important factual details, such as who, why and when, are forgotten, and some possible logical inconsistencies are left unexplained by the logic-impaired writer.