Felony and Misdemeanor Unlawful Sexual Contact Denver Criminal Attorney
The vast majority of Unlawful Sexual Contact cases are charged as a misdemeanor in Denver. A common example is a High School student moving too fast for his date. He touches her breasts and she goes home and tells her parents who call the police. But even the misdemeanor version of this crime is significant, because it is a sexual offense which requires registration as a sex offense and sex offender treatment. Never talk to police about these charges so your Denver Criminal Lawyer can put forth a strong defense for you.
Definition of Unlawful Sexual Contact in Jefferson County, Colorado
The common definition of Unlawful Sexual Contact in Colorado is, “Any actor who knowingly subjects a victim to any sexual contact commits unlawful sexual contact if, the actor knows that the victim does not consent.” This is how 90% of the cases are charged. Other situations where Unlawful Sexual Contact is charged in Jefferson County and Arvada, occurs with sexual contact when:
(1) The actor knows that the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of the victim’s conduct;
(2) The victim is physically helpless and the actor knows that the victim is physically helpless and the victim has not consented;
(3) The actor has substantially impaired the victim’s power to appraise or control the victim’s conduct by employing, without the victim’s consent, any drug, intoxicant, or other means for the purpose of causing submission;
(4) The victim is in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over the victim and uses this position of authority, unless incident to a lawful search, to coerce the victim to submit; or
(5) The actor engages in treatment or examination of a victim for other than bona fide medical purposes or in a manner substantially inconsistent with reasonable medical practices.
Requirements for Unlawful Sexual Contact.
Felony Unlawful Sexual Contact in Arapahoe County and Douglas County, Colorado
A prison sentence is possible following a conviction for the felony version of Unlawful Sexual Contact in Douglas County and Arapahoe County, Colorado. The first of two situations where it can be charged as a felony is where someone compels another to submit to sexual contact by force, intimidation, or threat. Grabbing and holding someone during the sexual contact is much more intrusive and violent than the misdemeanor version of Unlawful Sexual Contact, so it is charged as a class 4 felony – with mandatory prison.
Medical Personnel Unlawful Sexual Contact in Adams County – A Class 4 Felony
The second type of felony Unlawful Sexual Contact occurs when medical personnel use a victim’s expectation of medical treatment to take advantage of them sexually. Key language for this felony crime is that a person: “engages in treatment or the examination of another inconsistent with bona fide medical purposes or reasonable medical practices.” Also a class 4 felony in Adams County and Broomfield County, this version of Unlawful Sexual Contact can result in prison time, sex offender registration and sex offender treatment in Colorado’s SOMB treatment program.
For advice on your case, call our defense lawyers at 303-731-0719. Together, we can protect your future.