Indecent Assault in PA (Max Penalties and Defenses)

Indecent Assault is a criminal charge in PA. It can carry with it a lifetime of problems…. if you choose the wrong attorney. When it comes to finding the best Pennsylvania Sex Crimes attorney, we are it. 

Indecent-Assault
Indecent-Assault

The Law:

18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3126 Indecent assault is where you can find the law as written in PA.

What the government has to prove

You have to prove nothing. You are innocent. Our Founding Fathers made it so when they drafted and passed the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. And you remain that way, unless the government proves the following beyond a reasonable doubt:

  1. the accused
  2. had indecent contact with victim, or
  3. caused the complainant to have indecent contact with the person or
  4. intentionally caused the complainant to
    1. come into contact with seminal fluid, urine or feces or
    2. for the purpose of arousing sexual desire in the person or the complainant

AND any one of the following is met

(1)  the person does so without the complainant’s consent;

(2)  the person does so by forcible compulsion;

(3)  the person does so by threat of forcible compulsion that would prevent resistance by a person of reasonable resolution;

(4)  the complainant is unconscious or the person knows that the complainant is unaware that the indecent contact is occurring;

(5)  the person has substantially impaired the complainant’s power to appraise or control his or her conduct by administering or employing, without the knowledge of the complainant, drugs, intoxicants or other means for the purpose of preventing resistance;

(6)  the complainant suffers from a mental disability which renders the complainant incapable of consent;

(7)  the complainant is less than 13 years of age; or

(8)  the complainant is less than 16 years of age and the person is four or more years older than the complainant and the complainant and the person are not married to each other.

  1.  

What is Indecent Contact?

Indecent contact is any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of the person for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire, in any person.

Intimate parts has been found to include buttocks, genitalia, breasts and areas immediately near those traditionally thought of erogenous zones.

Following you for life

Megan’s Law Registration and SVP determination

  • 18 Pa.C.S. § 3126(a)(7) (relating to Indecent Assault under 13 years of age) is a mandatory Megan’s Law registration that is in the Tier III category. As such it is a Lifetime registration event.
  • Indecent Assault under 18 Pa.C.S. § 3126(a)(2), (3), (4), (5), (6) or (8) (relating to Indecent Assault-by forcible compulsion, threat of force, of unconscious person, by causing substantial impairment of the victim, and under 16 years old) is a Tier II mandatory Megan’s Law event. This is a 25 year requirement
  • 18 Pa.C.S. § 3126(a)(1) (relating to Indecent Assault without consent) is a Tier I Megan’s Law event and as such is 15 year registration that is mandatory.
  • All forms of Indecent Assault trigger the possibility of being designated a Sexually Violent Predator which includes neighborhood notification, mandatory counsel once a month for life and lifetime registration.

 

Other consequences

But you have a long life in front of you. Plenty of more years. That’s why you need to consider things beyond the instant problem of jail and fines. You need to consider the following: