Ariz. man wants wife prosecuted for adultery

(CBS) GLENDALE, Ariz. - It's one thing to point out that adultery is against the law in about half of all the states. It's quite another to prosecute a straying spouse.

That's what a Glendale, Ariz. man wants authorities to do under his state's anti-adultery law, claiming his wife has been a serial cheater for more than a decade.

Dave Banks told CBS affiliate KPHO about his wife's wayward ways, saying, "She's had seven or eight affairs that I know of."

He believes the archaic law should be enforced because he says there's nothing else being done to save families these days.

He stayed in the marriage, he said, because they have two sons. But Banks learned through Glendale's Victim Assistance Program that infidelity was not only a marital matter, it's criminal.

ARS 13-1408 makes adultery a class-three misdemeanor in Arizona.

"If they used it all the time, maybe women or men would think twice about going and jumping in the sack and throwing away their marriage," Banks said.

He says it took years for Glendale PD to finally take his report.

What about the other side of Banks v. Banks?

Dave's wife of 17 years, Traci Banks, says when she got the call from Glendale police about her husband's intentions, well...she was amused.

"Everybody thinks it's funny, everybody," she said.

No, remorse is not exactly in high supply.

She says even though the couple is living separately, they are still legally married because she can't afford a divorce. She admits to having two affairs. "It's (the marriage) been over. Did I feel bad or guilty? No," says Traci Banks.

Dave Banks says he got frustrated when the detective told him prosecutors would likely decline pursuing a conviction under the puritanical law.

"How do they get to pick and choose which laws they can and can't enforce? They got somebody readily admitting guilt. Seems to me that's a rubber stamp right through the court system," he told KPHO.

Banks said the detective also told him something else: "It's about time she got on with her life and you get on with yours."