Rape Lawyer Kansas City, Missouri

How Does Missouri Define Rape?

Missouri law defines rape as the opposite of consensual sex. In other words, the exact same actions could be deemed rape or consensual sex based on the parties’ expressed willingness.

However, consent is a complex term, both factually and legally. For one thing, it must be given freely rather than being coerced or forced.

Moreover, both parties must have the capacity to consent. That means they must be mature enough and have the mental acuity to understand the consequences of their actions. Consent may be limited to certain acts and withheld from others, and it can also be withdrawn.

Although Missouri only recognizes four rape offenses, the statutes cover many of the complicated fact patterns that may result in allegations of non-consensual sex.

Missouri Revised Statutes Covering Rape Offenses

As a preliminary matter, the Missouri Revised Statutes chapter outlining sex offenses distinguishes between rape and sodomy. The former only applies to male-female sexual intercourse, while the latter describes other forms of sexual penetration, including oral, anal, and object sex.

Regardless, under the current version of the Missouri Revised Statutes, the same punishments apply to both types of acts. Therefore, while rape is limited to male-female sexual intercourse, the same principles of consent also apply to all other forms of sexual penetration under Missouri’s sodomy statute.

Missouri imposes criminal punishment for the following four offenses.

First-Degree Rape

First-degree rape is among the most serious sex offenses in Missouri. It occurs when the accused engages in sexual intercourse under any of the following circumstances:

• The accused uses forcible compulsion
• The other person is incapacitated
• The other person is incapable of giving consent
• The other person lacks the capacity to consent

Forcible compulsion can include physical force that overcomes reasonable resistance. However, it doesn’t necessarily require actual force. A threat that causes reasonable fear of death, serious physical injury, or kidnapping may be enough to qualify. Such a threat may be inferred from the defendant’s words or actions.

Importantly, the threat doesn’t need to be directed at the person who was allegedly assaulted; it could be directed at someone else. For example, a prosecutor might allege that the defendant threatened to kidnap the accuser’s child to compel them to have sexual intercourse.

Finally, forcible compulsion occurs whenever someone administers a substance to the alleged victim without their knowledge or consent to render them incapable of giving informed consent. A substance meets this definition if it incapacitates the alleged victim’s physical or mental abilities.

Although most people think of rape as requiring physical force, this is just one way the crime can occur. As noted, force or threats aren’t required to prove the offense when one of the parties didn’t consent—the lack of consent is enough in itself.

A person may be incapable of giving consent if they can’t communicate their willingness or lack thereof. Someone who is unconscious is therefore incapable of giving consent.

A person may also lack the capacity to consent based on their status. For instance, someone who is mentally incompetent or under 17 lacks the legal capacity to give consent. Even if they say yes, they haven’t legally consented because they aren’t recognized as having the wherewithal to do so.

Finally, having sex with someone else who is incapacitated can be considered rape. “Incapacitated” means the person is physically or mentally unable to resist. For example, they might be paralyzed due to an illness or injury, or intoxicated by drugs or alcohol.

In these cases, a key issue is whether the accused took advantage of the other person’s condition.

Second-Degree Rape

Second-degree rape is a catchall offense that applies in any other scenario where the defendant had sexual intercourse knowing that the other person didn’t consent. The following are a few of the circumstances that might constitute this broad offense:

• The victim was sleeping without having taken any substance to make them sleep
• The victim gave and then verbally withdrew consent, but the accused persisted
• The victim consented to some acts, and the accused exceeded the consent

This crime may also be used as a middle ground during plea negotiations, since it’s punished as a Class D felony.

As a result, a defendant can often seek a lighter sentence by conceding that the survivor didn’t consent to sexual intercourse and pleading guilty to this offense instead. By comparison, the defendant risks a minimum mandatory sentence of five years for the more serious first-degree offense.

First-Degree Statutory Rape

Statutory rape denotes sexual intercourse involving at least one underage participant.

First-degree statutory rape happens when someone has sexual intercourse with another person under 14. Notably, many of the defenses available for other sex crimes don’t apply to this offense. Missouri distinguishes between consent, which is a legal term, and assent, which arises from the victim’s words or acts.

Consent isn’t a defense when the victim is under 14, even if they allegedly assented. Victims under 14 are presumed to lack the legal capacity to consent. Similarly, the defendant can’t claim to have mistaken the other person’s age when they’re under 14.

Prosecutors handling cases with underage victims can charge the defendant with rape and statutory rape as long as the first charge is based on something other than the victim’s age. For example, the use of forcible compulsion against a victim younger than 14 could result in both charges.

Second-Degree Statutory Rape

Second-degree statutory rape occurs when someone 21 or older has sexual intercourse with someone under 17.

There are two important limitations on this offense. First, it sets the age of consent in Missouri at 17. Once a person turns 17, consensual sex is lawful.

Second, it creates a so-called “Romeo and Juliet exception” in which people younger than 21 can have sex with each other unless one of them is under 14. Stated differently, when young people between the ages of 15 and 20 have consensual sex with each other, they aren’t committing either a first- or second-degree statutory offense.

Additionally, consent and mistakes as to age are available as defenses against charges of second-degree statutory rape. If the accused reasonably believed the alleged victim was 17 or older, they may have a viable defense.

Consent may also constitute a defense. However, the accused will still need to prove that the alleged victim had the capacity and ability to give informed consent. This may be difficult if the alleged victim is young and mentally immature.

Possible Defenses Against Rape Charges in Kansas City, MO

Depending on the nature of the alleged offense, one or more of the following criminal defense strategies may be available in your case.

Consent

Consent is a key defense against rape charges. Evidence of consent may include messages sent before and after the sexual encounter, a delay in reporting the alleged offense, and a lack of outcry to others, such as friends or family members.

Lack of Intent

The law makes it clear that the accused must have acted knowingly, meaning they knew the circumstances existed to make their conduct illegal. If they believed the alleged victim consented, they may have lacked the intent to violate the law, defeating the charges.

Alibi

An alibi explains how the accused couldn’t have committed the alleged offense. Forensic evidence, such as DNA analysis, can sometimes clear those accused of rape. Eyewitnesses may also testify that the accused was somewhere other than the crime scene at the time the offense was committed.