UNLAWFUL SEXUAL CONTACT
Unlawful Sexual Contact Denver Defense Attorney
Denver’s main misdemeanor sexual assault charges for touching the breast or butt of another, are classified at C.R.S. 18-3-404. Don’t be fooled that these are only misdemeanor charges. Non-felony sex offenses still have the potential for up to two years in the Denver County Jail, 10 years or more of Sex Offender Registration, and Sex Offender Treatment under the unreasonable SOMB canned treatment program. And, in some cases, this crime can be charged as a felony (see below). You will be kept from your own children and grandchildren, forced to move if you live near children, and told where you can or can’t work. When the government is threatening to take over your way of life, you must establish a solid defense to Unlawful Sexual Contact charges by hiring an experienced criminal defense attorney.
The Definition Of Unlawful Sexual Contact Used In Jefferson County And Adams County Courts
Here are the specific statutory requirements your Denver criminal lawyer will need to refute and defeat a misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact charge:
(1) 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
- The actor knows that the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of the victim’s conduct
- The victim is physically helpless and the actor knows that the victim is physically helpless and the victim has not consented
- 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
- 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
- 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
(2) Any person who knowingly, with or without sexual contact, induces or coerces a child by any of the means set forth in section 18-3-402 to expose intimate parts or to engage in any sexual contact, intrusion or penetration with another person, for the purpose of the actor’s own sexual gratification, commits unlawful sexual contact. Child means a person under 18 years of age.
(3) Any person who knowingly observes or takes a photograph of another person’s intimate parts without that person’s consent, in a situation where the person observed has a reasonable expectation of privacy, for the purpose of the observer’s own sexual gratification, commits unlawful sexual contact. This paragraph will be relocated and made the more serious crime of invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, C.R.S. 18-3-405.6, effective July 1, 2012.
The important definition of “Sexual Contact” is met if you: touch a person’s intimate parts without their consent. “Intimate parts” involves external genitalia, a butt, breasts or pubic area. This does not need to be skin on skin contact, but can be over the clothing as well.
Douglas And Arapahoe County Felony Unlawful Sexual Contact
Unlawful sexual contact is normally a Class 1 misdemeanor and extraordinarily risky crime punishable by a Douglas County Jail sentence from six months to two years. Unlawful Sexual Contact felony charges can result if there are allegations that a person subjected another to any sexual contact by the use of force, intimidation, or threat; or if the offense involved some of the paragraphs listed above; or if the offense involved a child as set forth in paragraph 2 above. This Class 4 felony offense is a sex offense in Arapahoe County, Colorado and if convicted, a person will need to complete sex offender registration in Colorado and be subject to the onerous requirements of sex offender treatment program under the Sex Offender Management Board. With a felony conviction, Unlawful Sexual Contact can result in a Colorado Department of Corrections sentence of several years, ruining your life.
The main difference between this sexual offense, which is normally charged as a misdemeanor, and the routine felony sexual offenses in Colorado, is the element of penetration. The misdemeanor version normally involves touching without penetration, or observing someone in a state of undress, without any touching. We see many of these cases when someone has been accused of window peeping/voyeurism, or of putting a hidden camera in a place where others undress. Yet with recent changes in Colorado law, non-penetration conduct can result in being accused of a felony. Ask your Northglenn and Thornton criminal defense attorney from our North Denver Office, how we can reduce this charge to a manageable level.
Denver Unlawful Sexual Contact Lawyers And Attorneys – When We Usually See These Charges
As Colorado criminal defense lawyers and attorneys working across Colorado and in the Denver area, we see charges of unlawful sexual contact during a breakup, with angry children, or as part of a Domestic Violence accusation. Sometimes they appear as part of an effort to gain an advantage in child custody proceedings (divorce). Our investigators will begin exploring the motive for these false accusations before the police can interview and influence potential witnesses. Moving quickly is the key to success.
You need an experienced and aggressive defense lawyer involved in your Jefferson County or Adams County Unlawful Sexual Contact case immediately. Don’t gamble with your children, job, marriage and reputation. If you think you might be charged, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and call us immediately at 303-731-0719. Together, we can protect your future.
