First and foremost, if you find yourself in a situation where you're being investigated for sexual battery, it's crucial to seek legal representation. A skilled attorney can help you navigate the legal process and potentially avoid a 10-year sex registration, especially if you have no prior criminal record or if the situation can be argued as an accident.
California Penal Code 243.4 PC defines sexual battery, also called “sexual assault,” as touching someone on an intimate part of their body against their will and with the intent to achieve sexual arousal, gratification, or inflict sexual abuse.
The “intimate parts” include the genital area, buttocks, or female breasts. Prosecutors often use this law to charge somebody for unwanted sexual touching of someone, such as when a man intentionally touches a female's breast or buttocks over her clothing without consent.
Sexual battery is a separate crime from Penal Code 261 PC rape as it does not require an act of sexual penetration. Sometimes, sexual battery could still apply even in an ongoing sexual relationship with someone.
Penal Code 243.4(a) PC defines sexual battery as “anyone who touches an intimate part of another person while unlawfully restrained by the accused or an accomplice, and if the touching is against their and for sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse.”
California Penal Code 243.4(d) PC defines the crime of forcing another person to touch you or another person in an unlawful sexual manner.
Sexual battery convictions can lead to charges as misdemeanors or felonies, depending on the case details. For instance, a misdemeanor charge could be for intentionally groping a female in a public setting without permission. On the other hand, a felony charge could involve restraining someone and engaging in unlawful sexual conduct. Understanding these potential outcomes is crucial for being prepared for your legal defense.
A felony example can include holding someone's hands behind their back to restrain them and putting your hand up their dress. Other examples of felonies include:
- when an institutionalized person is incapacitated medically in some way or is severely disabled (Penal Code 243.4(b) PC), and
- when acted under the guise of touching a person for “professional” purposes, such as at a medical facility (Penal Code 243.4(c) PC).
Sex Offender Registration
If you're convicted of sexual battery in California, you're facing under the three-tier system, registering as a sex offender for ten years.
What an attorney can do is work to convince the prosecutors to charge a different crime than sexual battery – one that does not require sex registration. This is a key strategy in your defense, and understanding this process can help you feel more knowledgeable and in control of your situation.
Sometimes, that's where people get confused. They think the attorney can negotiate sex registration in a sexual battery, which is not true. It's the conviction that is triggering the sex registration. If you're convicted of a sex offense that requires registration, you won't be able to get out of it by some negotiation.
On the other hand, if your attorney can convince the prosecutor or judge, or even a jury to find you not guilty or for them to change the charge to something that does not require sexual registration, for example, just a simple battery Penal Code Section 242, then you're in a much better position.
You don't have to register as a sex offender and will probably not get any jail time. That's another thing an attorney can help you avoid – going to jail for some time with the label of a sex offender, putting you in danger and in a bad position.
Case Strategy Review
You also want to avoid damaging your reputation by getting convicted of a sex offense like sexual battery. What I have you do is come in, and we sit down in my office.
We go over everything and develop a game plan on how we will defend your case. What all of the ins and outs are related to a sexual battery?
We'll determine whether we could win the case in a jury trial or whether it's the type of case we need to mitigate and negotiate. That's where my 30 years of experience will help you. I've worked as a criminal defense attorney for the District Attorney's office, a superior court judge, the State Bar of California, and people like you since the early 1990s.
So, if you need the best, you've come to the right place. If you're charged with or are being investigated for sexual battery, you don't want to register as a sex offender, and you want to get the best defense possible, pick up the phone now. Ask for a meeting with Ron Hedding. The Hedding Law Firm offers a free case evaluation, and we are located in Los Angeles, CA.
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