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Police Report: Gary Skoien Beaten with Guitar by Wife for Having "Prostitutes" in the Playroom

Police say former Cook county, Illinois GOP Chairman Gary Skoien admitted to having prostitutes in his children's playroom when his wife Eni found him in the early hours of last Sunday morning. Police were on the scene because Mr. Skoien called them after Eni attacked him with her fists and an electric guitar.

According to the Sun Times, Mr. Skoien's wife Eni, 5 foot 4 inches, 110 pounds and almost twenty years his younger, spent two nights in jail before being released on a $10,000 bond. Mr. Skoien obtained an order of protection prohibiting his wife from contact with him or their three children.

Mr. Skoien now disputes portions of the police report, according to the Chicago Sun times. He says he was simply speaking with friends in the playroom when his wife came down and beat him. "No money was exchanged. Nobody was naked," he told the Daily Herald. The guitar has been reported as a "toy guitar" and also as an "electric guitar." "Toy guitar understates it. I thought I was going to die," Mr. Skoien told the Daily Herald.

While much remains to be clarified in the case of the Skoiens, and the characterization of his visitors remains disputed, it raises the issue of how a parent's non-marital sexual relationships affect custody and visitation decisions.

This depends on the state, but in general, nonmarital sexual relationships are not supposed to factor into custodial decisions, unless the relationship has harmed or is likely to harm the child. If the sexual relationship(s) has caused stress or embarrassment for the child, then it would be considered a factor against that parent. Courts in a few states tend to automatically assume nonmarital sexual relationships are harmful to children.

Of course, domestic violence, toward a spouse or child, would also factor largely in a custody decision.

• Gary Skoien Brings New Meaning to "Guitar Hero" (Chicagoist)
• Skoien Hints at Stepping Down after Wife's Arrest (Daily Herald)
• Cook County: Craigslist's 'Erotic' Section Must Go (CNET)
• Child Custody Factors (FindLaw)
• Domestic Violence and Child Custody (provided by the Law Offices of Earl Carter & Associates)
• Domestic Violence (FindLaw)

Full post as published by FindLaw's Common Law on March 12, 2009 (boomark / email).