A guilty verdict for a sex offense is life-changing. The penalties are harsh, as they involve lengthy prison confinement, payment of hefty court fines, and the requirement to register as a sex offender, sometimes for a lifetime, depending on your charges.
Unfortunately, society tends to assume the worst of persons accused of sex offenses, with accused persons sometimes facing charges or wrongful convictions even after poor investigation by authorities and the absence of physical evidence. So, it is crucial to hire a proficient sex crimes defense attorney to defend your rights and prevent a wrongful conviction. If you face sex crime charges, you should understand how these offenses are penalized and how you can avoid or reduce the penalties with the help of a proficient sex offenses defense attorney.
Penalties for California Sex Crime Convictions
The prosecutor or district attorney (DA) can file a sex crime as a felony or misdemeanor based on various factors like the offense type, the accuser’s age, whether the victimized party sustained physical injuries, the defendant’s criminal history, and a previous record of sex offenses.
Lewd or Dissolute Conduct
California PEN 647 makes it a criminal offense to solicit or participate in lewd behavior, such as touching your female breast, buttocks, or genitals for sexual satisfaction, when you are well aware of the presence of other parties who could be offended by the behavior. Soliciting happens when you request someone else to expose their genitals for your sexual gratification.
All lascivious or lewd acts under this statute are charged as misdemeanors, meaning a guilty verdict for any of these offenses carries misdemeanor penalties, based on the case’s facts. The penalties include a jail sentence not exceeding twelve months. Contingent on the case’s facts, the court could require you to enroll in the Megan’s Law site as a sexual predator. Dissolute or sexual behavior in public also attracts lewd conduct charges.
A charge for lewd conduct in public attracts at most six months of jail incarceration and court fines of no more than $1,000. The judge can also grant informal probation, where you serve a portion of the jail term or have no jail term. The terms of probation include:
- Mandatory counseling
- AIDS testing
- Aids testing
- Orders to keep off specific public locations
A guilty verdict for dissolute conduct in public does not come with the sex offender registration obligation. However, when the offense is charged alongside indecent exposure, you will register as a sexual predator. The prosecutor will convince you to plead guilty to indecent exposure charges to drop the lewd conduct charges.
Indecent Exposure
California PEN 314 makes it an offense to deliberately expose your genitals to other people for your sexual satisfaction or to offend them. When prosecuting indecent exposure, the prosecutor should demonstrate that:
- You intentionally exposed your naked genitals
- Another party that could have been offended or annoyed by your actions was present
- You aimed to attract the public’s attention to your genitals to gratify yourself, someone else, or to annoy.
Typically, indecent exposure is penalized as a misdemeanor upon conviction. A guilty verdict attracts no more than six months of incarceration and court-imposed monetary fines not exceeding $1,000.
Additionally, the conviction could attract an obligation for Tier I sexual predator registration that lasts for 10 or more years. If you are a certified expert with a practicing license, such as a dentist, doctor, or nurse, you risk losing your license upon conviction. With these stringent penalties at stake, you should partner with an experienced criminal defense attorney to help you contest the charges to avoid the penalties or for less stringent penalties.
California Prostitution
PEN 647b makes it a misdemeanor offense to intentionally participate in penetrative sex or lascivious behavior with another party in return for money, a valuable item, or service. For purposes of this statute, lewd or lascivious conduct is any sexual activity or contact between the person offering the sexual activity and the customer. The parts involved in the conduct are the genitals, buttocks, and female breasts. Also, the act is done for sexual arousal or gratification.
The law penalizes you for solicitation, which refers to requesting another party to engage in prostitution. Both the party that makes the request and the one that agrees to it face charges and possible conviction.
Prostitution, solicitation, and agreeing to prostitution are all misdemeanor offenses that attract misdemeanor penalties when found guilty. You will face up to half a year of incarceration and court fines of at most $1,000 for a first violation conviction.
Prostitution is classified as a priorable violation, meaning that prior convictions will affect future sentences for the same offense.
Also, you risk driver’s license revocation if the crime happened in the vehicle.
California Rape
PEN 261 criminalizes the use of violence, fraud, threats, physical force, fear of retaliation, menace, duress, and intimidation to achieve non-consensual penetrative sex. Even the slightest penetration of the vagina or genitalia with a penis, whether there is an ejaculation or not, amounts to rape.
Alternatively, the non-consensual sexual intercourse can be accomplished even without the use of force if:
- The victim is too intoxicated by drugs or alcohol, rendering them incapable of legally consenting to the act
- The victim has a physical or mental incapacity that makes them unable to consent to the act, and you, the accused, know or ought to know this.
- The victim was asleep or unconscious
- You pretended to be someone you are not, and the victim reasonably believed you
Prosecutors always file rape as a felony offense. The felony penalties you will face if the victim is at least 18 years old include:
- 36, 72, or 96 months of imprisonment
- Lifetime or a minimum of 20 years of sex offender registration if the victim was unable to consent because of mental or physical impairment.
When the victim of rape is below 14 years, the court will impose nine, eleven, or thirteen years of imprisonment and a lifetime obligation to register as a sexual predator.
For victims aged 14 to 17, you will face seven, nine, or eleven years of prison confinement when found guilty.
The penalties will not be less stringent even if you argue that you reasonably believed the victim was older than their actual age.
Penalty Enhancement
When the rape victim sustains significant or substantial bodily harm during the crime, you will face the following sentence or penalty enhancements:
- An additional and consecutive 36 to 60 months of prison confinement
- No more than $10,000 in financial court fines
- A strike on your record, which automatically doubles your future sentence for another felony offense
Substantial injuries include traumatic brain injuries, fractures, second- or third-degree burns, paralysis, stab wounds, and gunshot wounds.
Felony Probation
The judge will not impose probation if there was application of physical force or violence, or the victim suffered substantial bodily injuries. When your defense attorney convinces the judge to grant formal probation in place of imprisonment, you should be willing to abide by the probationary terms, including GPS monitoring and stay-away orders. When a violation occurs, the probation will be revoked, and you will return to prison to serve the original sentence.
Even though rape in California is severely penalized, a charge alone does not make you guilty of the accusations. You have a right to contest the charges and prove your innocence. However, you will require an experienced attorney to build compelling legal defenses to secure an acquittal or charge reduction.
Statutory Rape
PEN 261.5 criminalizes any act of penetrative sex with a minor or any person younger than 18 who is not your legal spouse. The age of consent in California is 18. Therefore, any sexual penetration involving someone below this age is considered illegal sexual intercourse with a child or minor.
You are guilty of this offense even if the minor agreed to or approved the sexual conduct. When convicted of this violation, you will face at most twelve months of jail confinement and $1,000 in court fines if you are at least 36 months older than the victim.
If the age difference between you and the minor is above 36 months, statutory rape becomes a wobbler. When convicted of a felony in this situation, your penalties include 16, 24, or 36 months of prison confinement and $10,000 in court fines. In contrast, a misdemeanor guilty verdict is punishable by a maximum of twelve months in jail and at most $1,000 in court fines.
When you are 21 or older and your victim is below 16, the prosecutor can lodge felony or misdemeanor charges, contingent on the case’s facts. The court penalizes a misdemeanor as follows:
- At most 12 months of confinement
- At most $1,000 in fines
The felony penalties upon sentencing are:
- 24, 36, or 48 months of jail confinement
- At most $10,000 in fines
Additionally, you risk civil penalties or non-criminal fines if you are above 18. These could cause financial strain, and the amount imposed depends on the age gap. If the age difference between you and the child is less than 24 months, you will pay a non-criminal fine of no more than $2,000. For an age difference of at least two years, the fine will not exceed $5,000. You will pay civil penalties of no more than $10,000 if you are more than 36 months older than the victim and up to $25,000 if you are 21 or older and the victim is under 16 years.
However, a conviction for statutory rape does not impose an obligation to register per the Megan’s Law provision.
Sexual Assault
California PEN 243.4 defines sexual assault or battery as touching someone's intimate parts like the anus, female breasts, buttocks, or sexual organs, below or above the clothing, while restraining them. The contact or touching must be against the victim’s will, and you must have acted with the intent of sexual arousal, gratification, or sexual abuse.
The prosecutor can file the charge as a felony or misdemeanor. As a misdemeanor, sexual battery attracts at most $2,000 in court fines and no more than six months of confinement. The fines will be increased to $3,000 if the victim is your employee.
The felony penalties you will face when found guilty of sexual battery include no more than twelve months in county jail and a court-imposed fine of at most $2,000.
Legal Defenses for Sex Crimes
You can defend yourself against the specific sex crime charges for a favorable verdict that does not involve harsh legal penalties. However, you should hire an attorney early to resolve the matter before the trial through negotiations. If no settlement is reached and the case proceeds to trial, your defense attorney will prepare adequately to put up a spirited fight. The defenses your attorney will utilize to contest the charges depend on the type of crime and the case’s facts. The standard legal defense strategies your attorney can mount for a fair verdict are:
- The victim consented to the act
- You are falsely accused
- The accusations are exaggerated
- You were mistakenly identified as the perpetrator
If your attorney’s defenses are successful, the case will be dismissed. Even a reduced charge is a win, depending on the nature of your case.
Sex Crime Sentence Mitigation
Sometimes, even with the best legal representation, a conviction is imminent if the prosecutor has overwhelming evidence against you. Your defense attorney will be pivotal even after you are convicted because they will present circumstances in mitigation during sentencing to convince the judge to impose lenient penalties. The mitigating factors your attorney can present for less stringent penalties are:
- You compensated the victim after the crime
- You mistakenly believed your conduct was lawful
- You acknowledged your wrongdoings before the arrest
- You have no criminal history, and if any, it is insignificant
- You have performed exceptionally in previous parole or probation programs
You will require an experienced attorney with excellent negotiation skills to convince the jury or judge to impose alternative sentences like probation instead of jail incarceration.
Find a Proficient Sex Crimes Defense Attorney Near Me
Sex crimes are severely punished upon conviction. However, this is not a good enough reason to panic because with the help of a proficient defense attorney, you can fight the charges for a fair verdict. Retaining the services of an attorney early in the case also minimizes the embarrassment and pain associated with the charges.
At Long Beach Criminal Attorney, we will conduct an independent investigation into the allegations to uncover the alleged victim’s record of dishonesty or the inconsistency in the prosecutor’s case. Call us today at 562-308-7807 to start preparing your defense.