Judge orders man to stop having children until he shows he can provide for them

RACINE (AP) - A Wisconsin father of nine who's behind on child support payments has been ordered by a judge not to have any more children until he can show he can provide for them.

Corey Curtis, who fathered the children with six women, owes nearly $100,000 in back child support and interest, according to Racine County prosecutors.

In sentencing the 44-year-old father Monday in Racine County Circuit Court for failing to pay support, Judge Tim Boyle lamented that he didn't have the authority to order sterilization for Curtis.

"Common sense dictates you shouldn't have kids you can't afford," the judge said.

Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Sommers told the judge he did have some authority regarding Curtis' reproduction rights. Sommers cited a 2001 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling upholding a judge's power to order a defendant, as a condition of probation, to not procreate again unless he can show he can financially support the child.

"I will make that a condition of the probation," Boyle said immediately, sentencing Curtis to three years' probation.

Defense attorney Robert Peterson argued the probation condition was not recommended in Curtis' pre-sentencing investigation report by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, The Journal Times reported.

Curtis told WDJT-TV he planned to comply with the condition.

"Judges, they make rulings," Curtis said, "they make them kind of hastily. So, if that's what he feels one of my conditions should be then I'm going to abide by it."

The July 2001 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling affirming the probation condition involved a case from Manitowoc County. David Oakley had been charged with seven counts of failing to support his nine children.

The justices said that Oakley's constitutional right to procreate wasn't eliminated because he could still reproduce as long as he made child support payments.