A sex offense or crime in California is sexual conduct perpetrated against another party and against the victim’s will to obtain sexual ratification, arousal, or to bother the victim. Considering the social stigma attached, a guilty verdict for offenses of this nature can wreak havoc in your life. The penalties depend on the statute you have violated, the crime’s nature, and the surrounding circumstances. The punishment includes incarceration, court fines, and sex offender enlistment with the Megan’s Law site. Highlighted further are various sexual crimes and their penalties.
California Rape
PEN 261 prohibits forcible penetrative sex without the victim’s consent and accomplished through physical violence or force, intimidation, or exploiting them when incapacitated. Therefore, you commit rape when you utilize violence or force to compel penetrative sex. Besides, inducing fear by intimidation or threatening retaliation to compel the other party to participate in penetrative sex is rape. Sexual intercourse when the victim is unconscious, asleep, or intoxicated by narcotics or controlled substances, is also rape.
When building your case, the DA should show that the penetration sex was devoid of mutual consent, involuntary, and uninformed. Additionally, they should demonstrate that the illegal conduct was obtained through force, intimidation, or manipulation.
The last element that should be proved is that you were aware the accuser was incapable of consenting to the behavior because of intoxication or mental conditions.
A PC 261 violation is filed as a felony, attracting severe penalties. Prison incarceration after conviction depends on the age difference between you and the victim. If the unwilling participant was an adult over 18, a guilty verdict attracts 36, 72, or 96 months in prison. The penalties will be enhanced to 84, 108, or 132 months if the participant is between 14 and 17. For participants younger than 14, you risk 108, 132, or 156 months of prison incarceration.
Apart from incarceration, you should register on the Megan’s Law site. The registration duration is twenty years if the unwilling participant is over 18 or aggravating circumstances exist. Your name, address, and rape offense will appear on Megan’s Law Site for a lifetime if the victim is between 14 and seventeen years old. Also, the registration is for life when the accuser is 14 or younger.
Sometimes, the court can impose formal probation in place of or alongside prison incarceration.
Statutory Rape
According to PEN 261.5, it is a crime to participate in penetrative sex with a minor or individual below 18 when you are not married to them during the violation.
Statutory rape does not require the prosecutor to demonstrate the application of force or threats. You will be guilty even if the minor consents to penetrative sex. The law deems individuals under the majority age unable to consent to sexual acts, meaning that even if you had mutually agreed, the act still amounts to rape.
The law classifies statutory rape as a wobbler. The type of charge you face depends on the age difference between you and the victim. If there is a three-year age gap between you and the victim, you risk misdemeanor charges. You will attract wobbler charges when the age difference is over three years. If you, the violator, are above 21 and the accuser is 16, the crime will also be filed as a felony or misdemeanor.
A guilty verdict for a misdemeanor attracts informal probation, $1,000 in monetary court fines, and up to twelve months of jail incarceration. In contrast, a felony is punishable by formal probation alongside twelve months of jail incarceration. A felony also attracts sixteen, twenty-four, or thirty-six months of jail incarceration. In some circumstances, the court will instruct you to pay a fine of no more than $10,000.
Indecent Exposure
Per PEN 134, indecent exposure is lewd and deliberate genital exposure in public or in the presence of an individual with the intent to annoy or for sexual satisfaction. The facts of the case that the DA should demonstrate are:
- You deliberately exposed part of or the entire genital
- The exposure took place in public or near someone you knew could be offended by the conduct
- You had lewd intent either to sexually satisfy yourself, annoy or arouse oneself
The prosecutor files a PC 143 violation as a misdemeanor for your first offense. If convicted, you attract at most six months in county jail, a financial court-imposed fine not exceeding $1,000, and enlisting as a sexual predator for 120 months under PEN 290.
Having a prior violation or engaging in indecent exposure with a minor is a felony. When convicted, you risk:
- 120 months of sex offender enlisting
- Court fines of at most $10,000
- Sixteen, twenty-four, or thirty-six months of imprisonment
Lewd Act Involving a Minor
Per PC 288, lewd or lascivious conduct with a minor, also called child molestation, is the unlawful touching of the intimate parts, skin, or any other organ, even through the clothes of a child 14 or younger, with sexual intent. When prosecuting the crime, the DA should demonstrate three key facts, including:
- You deliberately touched a minor’s body through the skin or clothing, or clothing or intentionally caused the minor to contact their body parts, your body parts, or someone else’s
- Your intent during the conduct was arousal, passion, sexual gratification, your lustful desires, or those of the minor
- When the crime happened, the child was younger than 14
Intentional, willful, or deliberate means doing something intentionally, not necessarily to violate the law, injure someone, or take advantage. It means that even if the touch on the child was accidental, you risk PC 288 charges and a possible conviction.
Also, you should know that arousal is not necessary for the prosecutor to secure a guilty verdict. All they should show for a conviction is that contact with the child was intentional and aimed for sexual arousal or satisfaction.
Even if you do not successfully touch the minor, you could face charges for attempted child molestation if the prosecutor shows you made significant steps to molest the child but your efforts were unsuccessful.
A violation of PC 288 attracts severe penalties upon conviction. The penalties hinge on the victim’s age, whether there was use of physical violence or intimidation, and your criminal history.
In the absence of the use of force or intimidation, a PEN 288 breach is a felony that attracts:
- 36, 72, or 86 months of prison incarceration
- $10,000 in financial court fines
When you accomplish the offense through physical violence, menace, coercion, or threats and the underage participant is below 14, you will attract five, eight, or ten years of prison sentence and court-imposed fines of $10,000.
There are many circumstances under which you can face enhanced penalties for engaging in lewd behavior. The statutes stating these aggravating circumstances and their penalties are:
- PEN 667.61(d)(7) imposes 25 years to life incarceration if you cause a participant under 14 severe physical injuries
- PEN 12022.8 enhances your penalties by five years for causing bodily harm to a minor younger than 14
- PEN 288i, which imposes life imprisonment for violators who inflict physical harm on children under 14
The DA can charge you with infringement of any of these statutes or all of them.
Sexual Battery
California PEN 243.4 prohibits the touching of someone else’s genitals for sexual satisfaction, abuse, or arousal. The offense is usually a misdemeanor, although you could face felony counts under these circumstances:
- You unlawfully restrained the victim
- The accuser of the battery had mental incapacity, was disabled, or was institutionalized due to mental health problems
- The battery victim did not understand the nature of the sexual conduct
- You caused the victim to masturbate or touch their genitals
A guilty verdict for a misdemeanor devoid of aggravating circumstances attracts:
- At most half a year in jail
- $2,000 court fines, which could be revised upwards if you are the victim’s employer
- Informal probation lasting up to 60 months with strict probationary conditions, including community labor and completion of a batterer’s program registration as a sexual predator for ten years.
Even with aggravating circumstances, the prosecutor can still charge you with a misdemeanor.
When convicted of a felony offense, you risk:
- Formal probation
- 48 months of imprisonment and an additional 60 months if your victim obtained severe bodily harm
- At most $10,000 in court fines
- Sex offender enlistment for a lifetime
Sodomy Statutes
According to PEN 286, sodomy refers to the touching of the penis with another party's anus in the following situations:
- When the behavior is directed towards a minor
- When the conduct was accomplished through physical violence, intimidation, or fear
- The victim was unable to approve the conduct due to unconsciousness, intoxication, or mental incapacity
- The conduct is between inmates or happens in prison
Sodomy is a wobbler. Misdemeanor sodomy is punishable by at most twelve months in jail, court fines of at most $1,000, and an obligation to enlist as a sexual predator. In contrast, felony sodomy attracts at most 36 months behind bars, no more than $10,000 in court fines, and the requirement to enlist with the Megan’s Law site.
If you are an immigrant, you risk deportation or in admission if you are outside the country, as sodomy is a moral turpitude offense. A felony guilty verdict will also adversely impact your gun ownership rights and add a strike to your record.
Prostitution
PEN 647(b) defines prostitution as exchanging sexual favors for cash or other valuable items.
The DA proves you committed the crime by showing that you participated in sexual conduct for money, valuable items, or services.
Prostitution is a misdemeanor, and a guilty verdict attracts six months in jail and $1,000 when it is your first offense. As a second-time offender, you risk at least forty-five days of incarceration. A third-time offense is punishable by a minimum of three months in jail.
The court can also send you to a diversion program for commercial sex workers instead of sending you to jail. Under the program, you undergo education, training, and counseling to make you a responsible citizen.
Fighting Sex Crime Charges
The penalties for any sex crime can result in life-changing consequences. However, despite these severe consequences, the charges are not hopeless. You can put up a strong fight for a case dismissal, charge reduction, or more lenient penalties. However, you need an experienced sexual offense attorney to develop the best defenses. The standard legal defenses for sex offenses are:
Victim Approval or Consent
Where the victim is an adult and of sound mind, you can claim they approved or consented to the act. Your attorney should find evidence to support the assertion. It is not easy to do so because the evidence of consent or a lack of is usually the victim’s word against yours. Therefore, your attorney will focus on the accuser’s behavior before and after the act. Also, the attorney can highlight your relationship with the accuser to convince the court that the sexual behavior was consensual.
You should know that you can use consent as a defense, even in statutory rape charges. You can argue that even though the accuser was below the legal consent age, you were married to them at the time. There is no minimum age for marriage in California, but the defense will only work if the parents of the minor have approved the marriage. If you are legally married to the accuser, you are not guilty of statutory rape.
Mistaken Identity
Another common defense is asserting that the accuser misidentified you as the violator, but you did not commit a sex offense. Circumstantial evidence could be used to convict you even if you were misidentified wrongfully. Therefore, you should find a competent attorney to demonstrate that you did not commit the crime, although you meet some of the perpetrator’s descriptions. You can use DNA samples to show that someone else and not you was present at the crime scene.
Find a Competent Sex Offenses Attorney Near Me
Police and prosecutors are aggressive when it comes to sex crimes. The aggressiveness can sometimes lead to false accusations and wrongful convictions. You do not want to face the harsh penalties of a sex crime or offense for a crime you did not commit. At the Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin, we will not judge you. Instead, we will evaluate your case and craft defenses to help prevent or reduce these penalties. Call us at 310-273-9600 to discuss your case in Los Angeles.