Shreveport Criminal Defense: Defending Charges of Sexual Battery

In Louisiana, sexual battery is a crime defined as unwanted or unconsented sexual touching of another, or coercing the victim into touching the accused in a sexual manner. Criminal elements of sexual battery in Louisiana are the same as the criminal elements of rape, except that the sexual behavior falls short of oral, anal, or vaginal sex, which all involve some form of penetration (however minor). If you are arrested and charged with sexual battery, contact an experienced Shreveport criminal defense attorney at the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams.

Sexual touching generally involves the touching of commonly understood erogenous zones, including the genitals, buttocks, and breasts. Generally, the touching of these erogenous zones must be related to some sexual desire. Legally, this is often called touching for the purposes of "prurient arousal." This is one reason that doctors and medical professionals commit no crime when giving medical examinations. They are touching for purpose of examination and not arousal. From an allegation of sexual battery, there are two potential criminal defenses: the alleged touching did not involve an erogenous zone, and/or it was not aimed at prurient arousal.

Sexual battery is a crime of intent. Thus, if charged, the Louisiana prosecuting attorneys must prove -- beyond a reasonable doubt -- that the sexual touching was done with intent. Thus, an accidental touching of erogenous areas will not be a crime. From this, we can see another possible criminal defense: the touching was accidental and/or inadvertent.

The next criminal element of Louisiana sexual battery is lack of consent. That is, to obtain a conviction, the Louisiana prosecutors must prove that the victim did not consent to the sexual touching. Thus, consensual sexual touching is a potential criminal defense to charges of sexual battery.

However, consent is NOT always a defense since some victims are too young to consent to sexual activity and touching. Thus, there is the concept of statutory sexual battery -- sexual touching of a person under the age of 17. Louisiana criminal law presumes that those under the age of 17 cannot give consent to sexual behavior. Note that statutory crimes are strict liability in the sense that an accused's belief that the victim was "of age" will not be a criminal defense.

Lack of consent also involves various types of circumstances where consent cannot be given for physical and/or mental reasons. These include cases where the victim is mentally or physically incapacitated, such as where the victim has taken drugs, has been drugged, has drunk too much alcohol, is unconscious, etc. These also include cases where the victim lacks sufficient intelligence -- has clinical mental retardation, for example -- to understand the nature and meaning of sexual behavior. Lack of consent also involves cases where the victim cannot physically resist because the victim is paraplegic, quadriplegic, or otherwise physically incapable of resisting.

Finally, lack of consent also involves various types of circumstances where consent is "given" under threatened or actual use of force, violence, or the withholding of food/water or under other types of threats. The latter can occur, for example, in elder abuse cases in nursing home care facilities. If the victim has been intimidated, there is no consent to sexual touching or fondling.

Other potential defenses include innocence. This might involve an alibi defense, a victim misidentification, etc. There may also be criminal defenses based on violation of Constitutional protections, law enforcement failures concerning legal procedures, and, maybe, failures related to evidence such as faulty lab test results.

Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today

For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are relentless and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana.