Penal Code 243.4 PC - Sexual Battery Law in California
California Penal Code 243.4 PC defines sexual battery as a serious offense, involving the touching of another person's intimate parts without consent and for the purpose of sexual gratification, arousal, or abuse. This crime, though typically a misdemeanor, can escalate to a felony if the victim is restrained, unconscious, or medically incapacitated, underscoring its severity.
PC 243.4 sexual battery is also known as “sexual assault” and is a separate, less serious crime from Penal Code 261 PC rape. Unlike rape, sexual battery does not require sexual penetration.
Penal Code 243.4(a) PC says, “anyone who touches an intimate part of another person while unlawfully restrained by the accused or an accomplice, and if the touching is against their and for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, is guilty of sexual battery.”
Related Penal Code 243.4(d) PC defines the crime of forcing another person to touch you or another person in an unlawful sexual manner.
Sexual battery is technically a wobbler, a term used in California law to describe a crime that can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances and the defendant's criminal history. While it can be filed as a felony in certain circumstances, it is almost always filed as a misdemeanor.
The touching of “intimate parts” includes the genital area, buttocks, or female breasts.
Typically, prosecutors use this statute to file charges on someone for unwanted sexual touching of someone, such as when a man deliberately touches a female's buttocks over her clothes without her consent.
What Does the Law Say?
Under the law, “touching” can be either direct contact with the skin or through clothing. As noted, PC 243.4 sexual battery does not require an act of penetration or sexual intercourse. Notably, you can still be charged for violating this law if you are currently involved in a relationship with the alleged victim.
An “intimate parts” are female breasts, genitals, buttocks, anus, and groin areas of someone.
The term “unlawfully restrained” refers to controlling another person's actions physically or verbally. “Against the will” means without someone's consent, meaning they are unwilling or unable to consent.
The “elements of the crime,” meaning what must be proven for a conviction, for PC 243.4 misdemeanor sexual battery include the following:
- You touched an intimate body part of another person without consent,
- Your intent was sexual gratification, sexual arousal, or sexual abuse.
The decision to charge you with misdemeanor sexual battery will depend on a variety of factors, including the following:
- Whether or not physical force was used to restrain the victim,
- Whether or not your intentions were clear,
- Defendant's prior criminal history,
- Prosecution's confidence in obtaining a conviction.
A felony charge can be brought if the act involves restraint, such as holding the person down and sexually battering them. This falls short of rape but still constitutes a serious offense.
If the act involves restraint or holding the person down against their will, the charge will be elevated to a felony, carrying significantly more severe penalties than a misdemeanor charge.
What Are the Related Crimes?
There are some commonly related crimes for Penal Code 243.4 PC sexual battery, including the following:
- Penal Code 261 PC – rape,
- Penal Code 261.5 PC – statutory rape,
- Penal Code 288 PC – lewd acts on a minor,
- Penal Code 242 PC – battery,
- Penal Code 287 PC – oral copulation by force or fear.
What are the PC 243.4 Penalties?
A misdemeanor conviction for sexual battery can include the following penalties:
- Fines up to $2000 or up to $3000 if the victim was your employee;
- Up to 6 months in county jail;
- Information summary probation;
- Mandatory 10-year minimum on the sex offender registry (Tier 1 offense).
Notably, if you receive a reduced sentence for misdemeanor sexual battery through a plea bargain, sex offender registration is still mandatory.
This means you will be required to register with local law enforcement as a sex offender, and your information will be placed on a publicly searchable database.
Further, you will have to keep that registration current for a minimum of ten years, and when it expires, you'll only be able to have your name removed from the registry upon request and at the court's discretion. A felony sexual battery requires sex registration for life.
The penalties will be increased if there are any aggravating factors, such as when the victim was:
- incapacitated,
- mentally ill,
- disabled,
- forced, or
- fraudulently convinced the touching was for a professional purpose.
If the victim suffers a great bodily injury (GBI), the judge could impose an additional three to five years in prison.
What Are the PC 243.4 Defenses?
When you come into the office, we must review all the facts and details. I strongly encourage you to be honest and provide me with a step-by-step account of what happened. The attorney/client privilege protects your honesty, and we need to build a strong defense.
If you have been accused of a misdemeanor or felony sexual battery in violation of Penal Code 243.4, our California criminal defense lawyer can use the strategies discussed below.
Perhaps we can argue that the alleged victim gave consent. To convict you of sexual battery, a prosecutor has to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the touching was against their will. Maybe we could argue that you reasonably believed that the touching was consensual.
Mostly, sexual battery cases do not have supporting physical evidence or an injury. Thus, perhaps we can argue that they have insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
Perhaps we can argue that you were falsely accused and wrongfully arrested for sexual battery. On the other hand, the alleged victim may have been motivated by anger or revenge. Perhaps we can persuade the prosecutor to file formal charges before the court, called a DA reject.
The critical thing is that we've got to decide exactly how we're going to handle the case—whether we're going to fight it, negotiate it, or put together a mitigation package. That's done through experience. The first thing we do is meet.
So, we need to discuss the case, and you should give me a rundown of precisely what happened so I can best assess whether you have a defense.
We also need to put in a Penal Code Section 288.1 report, which assesses whether you are a danger to the community or a threat to touch anybody else inappropriately. Also, a static 99 report can be helpful. That's an assessment that's done of somebody. It's a standard form, but it's looking at:
- Whether you would be a danger to the community,
- Whether or not you would be a recidivist and do some sexual crime in the future and
- It gives a percentage of the likelihood that you would do that.
Sometimes, we fight, and then we negotiate. So, we've got to look at what type of scenario you fall under based on your prior record, what happened in this current case, and several other factors that apply to your particular case. Contact us for a free case review. The Hedding Law Firm is based in Los Angeles, CA.
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