In Virginia, sexual battery charges stem from mucky interactions where touching perceived as consensual is misinterpreted as violent or deliberate. Sex crimes are serious, and a conviction can have severe consequences, including lengthy prison incarceration, financial court fines, and the requirement to register as a sex predator or offender.
Given the consequences at stake, you cannot afford to defend yourself when you face these charges. You need a defense attorney to explain your crime, possible penalties, and defense strategies to prevent a conviction. At the Virginia Sex Crime Attorney, we understand sexual battery statutes and are ready to defend you for a charge reduction or dismissal.
Legal Definition of Sexual Battery
Per Virginia Code Sec. 18.2-67.4, sexual battery is any sexual abuse form achieved against someone else’s will by applying violence, tricks, threats, or intimidation. Besides, it involves an individual in a position of power sexually assaulting an inmate, a person on parole or probation, or a pretrial offender. Furthermore, you face charges when you commit sexual abuse on at least one individual within twenty-four months or sexually abuse one victim multiple times for twenty-four months without the victim’s permission. Again, you will face sexual battery charges when you vehemently and intentionally touch someone else’s intimate parts.
Virginia statutes Classify sexual battery as a Class 1 misdemeanor, with the possible penalties hinged on the number of assaults, the victim’s age, and whether there was an application of violence, threats, or intimidation.
In particular cases, you will face charges under Sec. 18.2-67.3, aggravated battery if the victim is 13 or younger and whether you exploited the victim’s mental or physical disability to commit sexual battery. You will face charges for violating this section if the victim is 15 or older and you are their grandparent, parent, step-grandparent, or stepparent. Again, if you disregarded the complainant’s will during the crime by applying violence and intimidation, you risk aggravated sexual battery charges.
The charges can quickly spiral into a felony or aggravated battery if the witness in the case is thirteen to fifteen years old and you inflicted severe physical or psychological harm and threatened to use a lethal weapon. When you commit sexual battery under these circumstances, the prosecutor registers it as a felony punishable by prison incarceration. A violation of Sec. 18.2-67.3, where the victim is mentally or physically impaired or younger than thirteen, attracts a prison sentence of twenty years and monetary court fines of $10,000.
Sexual Battery Elements
The prosecutor should prove all the sexual battery elements to secure a guilty verdict. Unless all aspects of the sex crime are proven beyond a moral certainty, you cannot be found guilty. The key elements the prosecutor should demonstrate to the court and jury are:
- You touched the alleged victim against their will, through violence or intimidation.
- You had intentions or motives to engage in the sexual act.
- You applied violence, pressure or threatened the use of a lethal weapon.
- You touched the victim’s intimate parts.
Illegal touching, a Class 1 misdemeanor, means contacting the alleged victim’s intimate parts. It can be done directly or through your or the victim’s clothing. However, under Section 18.2-67.3, aggravated sexual battery, touching involves physical contact with the victim’s bare skin, directly or using your clothing.
The intimate parts in this statute are a female’s breasts or someone else’s anus, buttocks, sexual organs, or groin. Therefore, the court does not require the District Attorney (DA) to show that there was sexual penetration. They only need to show you touched these intimate parts without permission or approval. Consent means that someone is acting willfully and voluntarily and understands the nature of the act they are engaging in.
The prosecutor typically has difficulty proving intent to sexually abuse someone else. Even accidental touching can be considered intentional, even when you lack an illegal motive. You risk a wrongful conviction for a crime you never committed if the prosecutor proves all the case’s aspects. Therefore, you need an experienced sex crimes attorney to poke holes in the prosecutor’s allegations and cast doubt in the jury's minds about the allegations to have the charges reduced or dismissed.
At the Virginia Sex Crime Attorney, we will defend you against sexual battery to prevent a conviction. And when a guilty verdict is imminent, we will negotiate with the prosecutor for a plea bargain where you will plead guilty to a lesser crime like sexual abuse. Although the penalties for sexual abuse are lenient compared to sexual battery, you could still lose child custody and experience social stigmatization.
Sexual Assault Vs. Sexual Battery
Any sexual conduct or touching towards another party without their approval that involves sexual acts like attempted rape, incest, sodomy by force, forcible sex, or fondling amounts to sexual assault. Conversely, sexual battery is the illegal or unwanted touching of someone else’s intimate parts against their will for sexual gratification, arousal, or sexual abuse.
Simply put, sexual battery is any act of sexual assault devoid of conduct like sodomy using force, attempted rape, or penetration using an object.
Another difference is that the law Classifies sexual assault as a felony and sexual battery as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Sexual Battery Penalties
The penalties you face for battery depend on the nature of the case and whether you have prior offenses. The circumstances aggravating the sex crime include infecting the purported victim with HIV/AIDS, Syphilis, or Hepatitis B. Also, the type of charge the prosecutor prefers, simple or aggravated battery, determines the punishment you will face upon conviction.
Attempted or simple sexual batteries attract financial court fines of $2,500 and jail incarceration not exceeding twelve months. Nevertheless, the penalties increase to sixty months of prison incarceration and $2,500 in court fines if you face charges for attempted aggravated sexual battery.
If you engage in a sexual battery when infected by sexually transmitted infections like HIV/AIDS, syphilis, or hepatitis B and you know your status during the anal intercourse, sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, or anilingus, you will face felony sexual battery charges if you intended to transmit the disease through intercourse. When you commit sexual battery under these circumstances, you will face Class 6 felony charges whose conviction attracts 60 months of prison incarceration and no more than $2,500 in monetary court fines.
However, if you had no intention or motive to pass on an infection to the victim, the prosecutor will bring a misdemeanor charge. A misdemeanor sexual battery conviction attracts at most twelve months of jail incarceration and $2,500 in court fines. Sec. 18.2-62 requires you to furnish the court with your hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS test results after a guilty verdict; otherwise, the prosecutor will ask the court to order you to take the tests.
Even if you have committed a simple sexual battery offense but have had two previous sexual battery offenses in the past ten years, the court will treat the misdemeanor as a felony.
Per Sec. 18.2-67.5:1, a conviction for deliberate indecent exposure or sex with an underage person significantly impacts your current sentence because it attracts, at most, $2,500 in court fines and no more than twelve months in jail.
Per Sec. 18.2-67.5:2, the court must impose the maximum sentence provided by the law for an aggravated sexual battery conviction. The same rule of thumb applies when you have prior sexual assault convictions. The presiding judge cannot suspend any portion of the law's penalties for the sex crime.
Sex Offender or Predator Registration Requirement
The harshest punishment you will face for engaging in sexual battery is the sex offender registration requirement. Virginia has two kinds of sex predators: violent and non-violent ones. When you murder an underage person while engaging in a sexual crime, the law deems you a violent predator or offender. Conversely, the law Classifies you as a non-violent offender when the court finds you guilty of a registered sex crime.
Simple and aggravated sexual battery are sex crimes that require you to enlist your name in the sex offender’s registry. After you have completed your sentence for sexual battery, Virginia Code Sec. 53.1-160.1 requires the correctional facility where you were serving your sentence to issue you with a notice of the obligation to register and explain the registration requirements.
Once the facility has read and explained these conditions, you will acknowledge that you have read and understood them by signing the necessary paperwork. Many sex offenders fail to register because they do not understand the requirements or process involved in registration and end up with severe consequences for not registering. Therefore, you must ensure that you know the registration requirements.
At the Virginia Sex Crime Attorney, we encourage you to present your information to the local police immediately after you leave prison to be included in the registry and adhere to the registration conditions. The conditions you must meet for registration are:
- Furnish the local police with your official name, phone number, date of birth, social security number, physical depiction, current photograph, fingerprints, DNA, and physical address.
- Provide the authorities with employment details like a professional permit or the name and address of your employer.
- Offer the police school details like name and physical address if you are a student.
- Provide driving details like license number and car information.
- Provide criminal details, like all your previous crimes.
- Provide an email address, chat, instant message, or internet communication name.
Once you have enlisted, the police will electronically feed the information into the national registry. The state police will then release the information to school districts, daycares, and foster homes if you, the sex offender, move anywhere near these institutions after release. All law enforcement departments will have easy access to the information.
What you must know About Registration in Virginia
Usually, if you have served a prison sentence for a sex offense, you must enlist and re-enlist as a sex predator periodically with local police after release from prison. The Attorney General (AG) and FBI maintain a records office for sex offenders convicted of particular sex offenses and sex crimes against underage persons. Offenders are included in the registry to keep track of their movements and conduct. If, as a sex predator, you are included in the registry, the police can easily monitor you and ensure you do not endanger the community. Also, the records are accessible to the public, making it possible for the district to know when a sex offender is around and take the requisite measures.
You must enlist as a tier three sex offender when you attempt to commit sexual battery or have two prior sexual battery offenses against a child or mentally/physically disabled person. If you register under this category, you will appear on the registry for a lifetime. You will report to the police and re-register forever. Additionally, you will be required to notify law enforcement whenever you change addresses to update the details in the registry.
Impact of the Inclusion in the Registry
All aspects of your life will be adversely impacted when your name and details of the sexual battery offense enter the registry. If you are hunting for an apartment to lease, you will have challenges securing one because landlords and management companies will be reluctant to offer you housing. Also, you will have problems obtaining or keeping employment.
Similarly, you will face social stigma, particularly when you want to relocate to another neighborhood, because most people will not approve of your presence.
If you are busy or regularly travel, you will have problems keeping a schedule because of the random check-ins police make on offenders. Again, you must notify the police whenever you travel, making life challenging.
The consequences of the registration obligation are overwhelming, so you can easily be tempted to disregard the conditions. However harsh the conditions are, a violation will make matters worse.
Failure to Register
With the negative impact sex offender registration can have on your life, it can be tempting not to register at all once you complete your prison sentence. If you fail to enlist or violate registration conditions, the prosecutor will file fresh charges for a Sec. 53.1-160.1 violation.
When you change or alter the information entered in the national registry under Sec. 9.1-903 of the Virginia Code, you must notify the local law enforcement within half an hour. A charge for failure to enlist or reenlist will see your yearly registration reduced to six months and the re-registration condition shortened to thirty days from ninety days.
Failure to notify local police of any changes to the information on the national registry within the provided time frame will result in twelve months of jail incarceration and a court fine not exceeding $2,500 for a first offense. As a repeat offender, the court will impose a prison sentence of 12 to 120 months and a court-imposed fine of no more than $2,500.
A sexual battery conviction against a minor will require you to enlist as a sex predator for a lifetime. This requirement is life-altering, so you should ask your defense attorney to request that the court remove your details from the national record to give you a clean slate.
A Request for Removal From the Sex Predator Registry
Once you have completed the minimum registration duration requirement, you can petition the court, with the help of your legal team, to have your name cleared from the sex predator registry or relax your restrictions. Per Sections. 9.1–9.10 of the Virginia Code, you can petition the court to remove your name from the national registry after fifteen years if you have a sexual battery conviction. Nevertheless, this is only possible if you have not committed any crime after release and have obeyed the registration requirements.
Apart from completing the minimum registration period requirement, other conditions you must meet are:
- Provide evidence of attendance and completion of mandatory counseling or treatment.
- Payment of all restitutions or reimbursements imposed by the court.
- Demonstrate you are no longer a threat to the community or yourself.
- Furnish the court with your sex predator registration and criminal record.
Ensure that you have an experienced criminal attorney evaluate your sex predator registration record and demonstrate to the judge that you do not pose any more danger to the community. It would help if you had a profound attorney for the petition because the prosecutor would counter it. They will argue that you still threaten society and that retaining your name in the registry is the only way to guarantee the community’s safety.
If the prosecutor successfully opposes your removal from the registry, you will continue with counseling and therapy and wait for twenty-four months to file another removal petition.
Fighting Sexual Battery Charges
A sexual battery charge is severe and often results in life-changing penalties. However, you should not panic and lose hope because an experienced criminal attorney can successfully contest the charges. At the Virginia Sex Crime Attorney, we invite you first to discuss the case and provide all the details. Once our attorneys have heard your side of the story and collected evidence, we will formulate solid defenses to counter the prosecutor’s arguments. The legal reasons we will use to fight the charges are:
You Had Consent or Approval From the Alleged Complainant or Victim
One of the primary sexual battery elements is consent. When using consent as a defense, your attorney will assert that the complainant let you touch their intimate parts or that they permitted you to engage in intercourse. Your attorney can support the assertions by maintaining that the victim was your partner and had allowed you to enjoy your marriage rights. Nevertheless, after a disagreement with the complainant, they claimed you sexually battered them.
You can only use this defense if your victim is an adult. If they are underage, precisely 13 or younger, the law deems them incapable of consenting to sexual conduct. You could end up with additional charges for statutory rape.
You Had No Sexual Intent
The aspect of intent is critical in sex crimes, particularly sexual battery. The prosecutor must demonstrate that you intended to abuse the victim sexually. Proving this element is difficult because the prosecutor relies on circumstantial evidence. However, if you did not touch the victim with the motive of sexually abusing them, you are innocent. The attorney will analyze the circumstances in which the touching happened to show that it was accidental, not intentional, as the prosecutor claims.
Insufficient Evidence
Sexual battery charges typically involve your word against that of the complainant. There is rarely any physical evidence to show the actual events. The prosecutor could have insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable certainty that you committed a sexual battery crime. Your attorney will argue that the prosecutor lacks sufficient evidence to show that you are guilty of the allegations and, therefore, the case should be dropped.
You are Falsely Accused
In the years we have defended against sex crimes, our attorneys have encountered many cases of individuals wrongfully convicted of sexual battery based on false allegations. These cases usually do not require physical evidence, creating room for false accusations. Luckily, with our experienced defense attorneys by your side, you can impeach the complainant’s credibility and show that they acted out of spite, jealousy, or revenge. However, for the defense to stand, your attorney must conduct a thorough pretrial investigation to gather convincing evidence that the accusations are fabricated.
Besides, your attorney can raise the issue of mistaken identity if the victim did not see the perpetrator because it was dark or they were wearing a mask. If the victim did not have a clear look at the perpetrator, you can claim the arresting officer falsely accused you of the crime.
You Did Not Apply Violence, Intimidation, or Threats
If you face charges for aggravated battery, you can argue that you did not use threats or intimidation to reduce the count to simple or attempted battery. The prosecutor uses your confession, the existence of a lethal weapon, or significant bodily injuries to prove aggravated battery. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily indicate that you injured or used force on the victim.
Find an Accomplished Sex Offenses Attorney Near Me
If you face sexual battery charges, you are concerned about the severe consequences you will face when convicted. It is not unusual to be apprehensive about charges for a registered sex offense because of the harsh penalties and consequences. Luckily, The Virginia Sex Crime Attorney understands sex crime laws and local court processes and can develop a formidable defense for a favorable outcome. Call us today at 571-933-8494 to arrange a meeting.