A young woman at the center of a court fight over teen marriage says she is still in love with the man who married her under common law when she was 14 and who is now in prison for their relationship.
“To me, that’s my husband,” said the young woman, who asked to be identified only by the initials JMH because she is still a ward of the state. Her husband is Willis Rouse, who began living with JMH when she was 14 and formally married her in 2003 when she was 15.
Last week, the Colorado Court of Appeals sent Rouse’s case back to Weld County District Court to determine whether JMH and he were legally married by common law when she was 14. The court said common law trumps Colorado law, which says a person must be 18 to get married without a parent’s consent or 16 with consent.
“As far as I know, we’re still married and he loves me and he wants to be with me,” said JMH, now a high school graduate. She became pregnant with Rouse’s baby at age 14.
The young woman said Willis Rouse, 38, sends their 3-year-old son letters with pictures of Care Bears he draws himself, and she recently asked parole board members to release him.
While JMH anxiously awaits Rouse’s release from prison on a stalking conviction, Rouse’s first wife, Gail Young, 36, claims JMH could never have legally married Rouse to begin with – because Rouse is still married to her.
“He tried (to divorce me) but he went to prison before he finished dealing with it,” Young said.
The case took on broader implications for younger Coloradans after Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Taubman ruled last week that the case could open the way for girls as young as 12 and boys as young as 14 to marry – as recognized under English common law. Because Colorado has not abolished common-law marriages, English common law takes precedence in the state, he ruled.
JMH had mixed feelings about the potential impact of the case.
“If it’s true love, I don’t think it’s a problem,” she said Tuesday in a phone interview.
But if the girl is just trying to get out of a bad home life to be emancipated, it’s not right, she added.
JMH is aware of the criticism waged against Rouse for having sex with her when she was so young.
“They think he is this sicko for being with a 14-year-old,” JMH said. “People think he brainwashed me, and he didn’t. I had been through a lot. I knew what was going on.”
Young said circumstances only make Rouse, whom she married under common law, look worse.
“I thought it was sick and wrong, especially because he knew her as a little girl,” Young said. Rouse first met JMH when she was 3, Young said.
JMH said she had led a hard life, practically having to raise herself from the time she was 8. She fed and clothed herself and a younger sister, she said.
“My mom was never there, and I basically raised myself,” JMH said. “I grew up way faster than I should have.”
Rouse was respectful, sympathetic and understanding to her, she said. He didn’t treat her like she was a child, JMH said.
“We started hanging out a lot,” JMH said. “He’s always been there for everything. I had other boyfriends but he was my first true love.”
The two started having sex when Rouse was 34 and she was 14. She moved in with him in a trailer with Rouse’s parents. They later moved into a motel, where they were joined by JMH’s mother.
JMH said that when she was pregnant, she was worried because her mother was using drugs in the motel room.
So JMH and Rouse kicked her out, and only then did the mother go to authorities.
Soon after, while social service workers were looking for JMH and parole officers were after Rouse, her mother apologized for calling authorities.
She went with the couple to the Division of Motor Vehicles in Commerce City and signed her consent for her daughter to get married at 15, JMH said.
In all, the couple had lived together about a year before parole officers arrested Rouse and JMH went into foster care.
Rouse was originally charged with sexual assault by someone in a position of trust, according to court records. The charge was later dropped when he pleaded guilty to stalking.
Shortly after, the Weld County Department of Human Services asked that the marriage between Rouse and JMH be annulled because she was the subject of a dependency-and-neglect proceeding at the time. Judge James Hartmann subsequently declared the marriage invalid.
JMH said she was upset when Rouse was arrested for his relationship with her.
“I think it’s unfair to him. I think it’s unfair to me. I fell in love with him,” she said.
JMH recently traveled to Canon City to speak at Rouse’s parole hearing at Fremont Correction Facility. She saw him for only five minutes, and was not allowed to speak to him, she said.
Instead they mouthed the words “I love you” to each other, JMH said.
JMH said she told parole board members she was not a victim and hoped to get back together with Rouse when he is released. Rouse is forbidden to communicate with JMH but he is allowed to send letters to his son after a social worker reviews them.
JMH graduated from high school this year. She plans on moving into her own apartment in about a month, she said. She will get a job and go to college for a nursing degree, she said.
Whether her marriage to Rouse is legal or not, she plans on reuniting with Rouse when he is released from prison.
“In my heart we’re still married,” she said. “I don’t want my son to grow up without a father.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, an action by the Colorado Court of Appeals was incorrectly described. The court sent the case involving JMH and Willis Rouse back to a lower court to determine whether the couple met Colorado’s accepted standards for a common-law marriage.
