What to do if Charged?
1. Do not contact the accuser
You may be tempted to contact the accuser to try and resolve the issue directly. Do not contact the accuser. All correspondence before and after the incident can and will be used against you. A lawyer should be representing you in all stages to ensure that nothing hurts the defense case.
2. Do not destroy evidence
You may think that destroying any evidence in your possession will help your defense case. However tampering with evidence will almost always backfire against the defendant. Prosecutors have many resources to recover evidence that you think has been completely destroyed. When the evidence is presented in negotiations or at trial, it will make you look more guilty if you tried to destroy it beforehand. Tampering with evidence is also a crime in itself, which can be added on top of the sentence you could receive for 18-3-405 Colorado
3. Contact an experienced attorney
When you are charged with 18-3-405 Colorado, it is critical to exercise your right to an attorney. Your life is on the line and The Law Offices of Decker & Jones are prepared to defend your case. Contact us immediately at 303-573-5253 – even if you have not been charged yet. You need a defense team working in your corner to combat the prosecution ASAP.
The Basics Of § 18-3-405 18-3-405 Colorado
See below to read the law pertaining to § 18-3-405 18-3-405 Colorado
Reference the definitions from § 18-3-405 for details on the terminology
Decker & Jones will help you understand how the law pertains to your case
§ 18-3-405
(1) Any actor who knowingly subjects another not his or her spouse to any sexual contact commits sexual assault on a child if the victim is less than fifteen years of age and the actor is at least four years older than the victim.
(2) Sexual assault on a child is a class 4 felony, but it is a class 3 felony if:
(a) The actor applies force against the victim in order to accomplish or facilitate sexual contact; or
(b) The actor, in order to accomplish or facilitate sexual contact, threatens imminent death, serious bodily injury, extreme pain, or kidnapping against the victim or another person, and the victim believes that the actor has the present ability to execute the threat; or
(c) The actor, in order to accomplish or facilitate sexual contact, threatens retaliation by causing in the future the death or serious bodily injury, extreme pain, or kidnapping against the victim or another person, and the victim believes that the actor will execute the threat; or
(d) The actor commits the offense as a part of a pattern of sexual abuse as described in subsection (1) of this section. No specific date or time must be alleged for the pattern of sexual abuse; except that the acts constituting the pattern of sexual abuse, whether charged in the information or indictment or committed prior to or at any time after the offense charged in the information or indictment, shall be subject to the provisions of section 16-5-401(1)(a), concerning sex offenses against children. The offense charged in the information or indictment shall constitute one of the incidents of sexual contact involving a child necessary to form a pattern of sexual abuse as defined in section 18-3-401(2.5). Prosecution for any incident of sexual contact constituting the offense or any incident of sexual contact constituting the pattern of sexual abuse may be commenced and charged in an information or indictment in a county where at least one of the incidents occurred or in a county where an act in furtherance of the offense was committed.
(3) If a defendant is convicted of the class 3 felony of sexual assault on a child pursuant to paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (2) of this section, the court shall sentence the defendant in accordance with the provisions of section 18-1.3-406.
(4) A person who is convicted on or after July 1, 2013, of sexual assault on a child under this section, upon conviction, shall be advised by the court that the person has no right:
(a) To notification of the termination of parental rights and no standing to object to the termination of parental rights for a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense;
(b) To allocation of parental responsibilities, including parenting time and decision-making responsibilities for a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense;
(c) Of inheritance from a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense; and
(d) To notification of or the right to object to the adoption of a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense.
§ 18-3-401 Definitions
As used in this part 4, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) “Actor” means the person accused of a sexual offense pursuant to this part 4.
(1.5) “Consent” means cooperation in act or attitude pursuant to an exercise of free will and with knowledge of the nature of the act. A current or previous relationship shall not be sufficient to constitute consent under the provisions of this part 4. Submission under the influence of fear shall not constitute consent. Nothing in this definition shall be construed to affect the admissibility of evidence or the burden of proof in regard to the issue of consent under this part 4.
(1.7) “Diagnostic test” means a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening test followed by a supplemental HIV test for confirmation in those instances when the HIV screening test is repeatedly reactive.
(2) “Intimate parts” means the external genitalia or the perineum or the anus or the buttocks or the pubes or the breast of any person.
(2.4) “Medical-reporting victim” means a victim who seeks medical treatment services following a sexual assault but who elects not to participate in the criminal justice system at the time the victim receives medical services.
(2.5) “Pattern of sexual abuse” means the commission of two or more incidents of sexual contact involving a child when such offenses are committed by an actor upon the same victim.
(3) “Physically helpless” means unconscious, asleep, or otherwise unable to indicate willingness to act.
(3.5) One in a “position of trust” includes, but is not limited to, any person who is a parent or acting in the place of a parent and charged with any of a parent’s rights, duties, or responsibilities concerning a child, including a guardian or someone otherwise responsible for the general supervision of a child’s welfare, or a person who is charged with any duty or responsibility for the health, education, welfare, or supervision of a child, including foster care, child care, family care, or institutional care, either independently or through another, no matter how brief, at the time of an unlawful act.
(4) “Sexual contact” means:
(a) The knowing touching of the victim’s intimate parts by the actor, or of the actor’s intimate parts by the victim, or the knowing touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim’s or actor’s intimate parts if that sexual contact is for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse;
(b) The knowing emission or ejaculation of seminal fluid onto any body part of the victim or the clothing covering any body part of the victim; or
(c) Knowingly causing semen, blood, urine, feces, or a bodily substance to contact any body part of the victim or the clothing covering any body part of the victim if that contact with semen, blood, urine, feces, or a bodily substance is for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse.
(5) “Sexual intrusion” means any intrusion, however slight, by any object or any part of a person’s body, except the mouth, tongue, or penis, into the genital or anal opening of another person’s body if that sexual intrusion can reasonably be construed as being for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse.
(6) “Sexual penetration” means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus, or anal intercourse. Emission need not be proved as an element of any sexual penetration. Any penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime.
(7) “Victim” means the person alleging to have been subjected to a criminal sexual assault.
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