It’s a good day to be a Don Juan.
Adultery, a crime of the heart, is no longer a crime in the state of New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill Friday repealing the more-than-a-century-old law that classified cheating as a class B misdemeanor and landed debauchers behind bars for up to 90 days.
“While I’ve been fortunate to share a loving married life with my husband for 40 years — making it somewhat ironic for me to sign a bill decriminalizing adultery — I know that people often have complex relationships,” the governor said in a statement.
“These matters should clearly be handled by these individuals and not our criminal justice system. Let’s take this silly, outdated statute off the books, once and for all.”
Hochul is New York’s first happily married governor in roughly two decades. The marriages of each of her three immediate predecessors — David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo — were all plagued with extramarital affairs scandals and ended in divorce.
None, however, were sent to prison for their alleged cheating — even Spitzer, who famously stepped out on his wife to indulge in a sex ring.
A repeal of the law, written in 1907, had been in the works for several months after receiving overwhelming support from the state’s Assembly and Senate chambers.
Bill sponsor Long Island Assemblyman Charles Lavine argued the 117-year-old law was primarily used to curb the state’s divorce rate — especially at the hands of the wife — at a time when claiming adultery was the only path to legally split up.
Only five people have been convicted of the offense since the 1970s, including in 2010 when a married Batavia woman was caught having sex with her paramour on a playground.
Under the now-defunct law, cheaters could be sentenced to up to 90 days in prison or face a $500 fine.
Only 16 states still consider adultery a crime, including Alabama, Florida and North Carolina.
