Rape & Statutory Rape

Have you been charged with Rape, Statutory Rape or Spousal Rape in the San Francisco Bay Area?
The consequences of charges involving sex crimes can be very serious.  You could be facing significant Prison time including a life time sex offender registration and probation or Parole.

California Rape Charges are governed by the following California Penal Codes
California Penal Code 261. Rape
(a) Rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator, under any of the following circumstances:

• Where a person is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, and this is known or reasonably should be known to the person committing the act.

• Where it is accomplished against a person's will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the person or another.

• Where a person is prevented from resisting by any intoxicating or anesthetic substance, or any controlled substance, and this condition was known, or reasonably should have been known by the accused.

• Where a person is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, and this is known to the accused.

• Where the act is accomplished against the victim's will by threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim or any other person, and there is a reasonable possibility that the perpetrator will execute the threat. As used in this paragraph, "threatening to retaliate" means a threat to kidnap or falsely imprison, or to inflict extreme pain, serious bodily injury, or death.

California Penal Code 261.5 Statutory Rape
• Unlawful sexual intercourse is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor. For the purposes of this section, a "minor" is a person under the age of 18 years and an "adult" is a person who is at least 18 years of age.

• Any person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is not more than three years older or three years younger than the perpetrator, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

• Any person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is more than three years younger than the perpetrator is guilty of either a misdemeanor or a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison.

• Any person 21 years of age or older who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is under 16 years of age is guilty of either a misdemeanor or a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years.

California Penal Code 262 Spousal Rape
(a) Rape of a person who is the spouse of the perpetrator is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished under any of the circumstances mentioned above in regards to the Penal Code Section 261.

California Penal Code 263.
The essential guilt of rape consists in the outrage to the person and feelings of the victim of the rape. Any sexual penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime.

California Penal Code 264.
(a) Rape, as defined in Section 261 or 262, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six, or eight years.
(b) In addition to any punishment imposed under this section the judge may assess a fine not to exceed seventy dollars ($70) against any person who violates Section 261 or 262 with the proceeds of this fine to be used in accordance with Section 1463.23. The court shall, however, take into consideration the defendant's ability to pay, and no defendant shall be denied probation because of his or her inability to pay the fine permitted under this subdivision.

Harjot "Ginny" Walia represents clients accused of crimes in San Francisco and all parts of the greater Bay Area.