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Sexual Assault

Chapter 22 of the Texas Penal Code places restrictions and guidelines on the use of force by an individual acting outside of official State capacity.

“Sexual Assault”, as per § 22.011 of the Texas Penal Code, occurs when a person intentionally or knowingly:

  • causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of another person by any means, without that person's consent;
  • causes the penetration of the mouth of another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that person's consent; or
  • causes the sexual organ of another person, without that person's consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor

Sexual assault occurs regardless of whether the person committing the act knows the age of the child at the time of the offense, if the person intentionally or knowingly:

  • causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of a child by any means;
  • causes the penetration of the mouth of a child by the sexual organ of the actor;
  • causes the sexual organ of a child to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor;
  • causes the anus of a child to contact the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; or
  • causes the mouth of a child to contact the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor.

A sexual assault requires that the victim not consent to the sexual act. Sexual assault is considered to be without the consent of another person if:

  • the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by the use of physical force, violence, or coercion;
  • the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against the other person or to cause harm to the other person, and the other person believes that the actor has the present ability to execute the threat;
  • the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to resist;
  • the actor knows that as a result of mental disease or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting it;
  • the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is occurring;
  • the actor has intentionally impaired the other person's power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by administering any substance without the other person's knowledge;
  • the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against any person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability to execute the threat;
  • the actor is a public servant who coerces the other person to submit or participate;
  • the actor is a mental health services provider or a health care services provider who causes the other person, who is a patient or former patient of the actor, to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's emotional dependency on the actor;
  • the actor is a clergyman who causes the other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman's professional character as spiritual adviser; or
  • the actor is an employee of a facility where the other person is a resident, unless the employee and resident are formally or informally married to each other under Chapter 2, Family Code.

An offense under this section is a felony of the second degree and is punishable by a term of imprisonment ranging from 2-20 years, as well as a fine of up to $10,000. If the victim was a person whom the actor was prohibited from marrying or purporting to marry or with whom the actor was prohibited from living under the appearance of being married under Section 25.01, then the offense rises to the level of a first degree felony and is punishable by a term of imprisonment ranging from 5 years to life, as well as a fine of up to $10,000.

Punishment Range

Second Degree Felony

  • Imprisonment in the institutional division for not more than 20 years or less than two years
  • In addition to imprisonment, may receive a fine not to exceed $10,000

First Degree Felony

  • Imprisonment in the institutional division for life, or
  • Imprisonment in the institutional division for not more than 99 years or less than five years with the exception of aggravated sexual assault, which adds a 25-year minimum punishment if the victim is younger than 6, or younger than 14 and the offense contained threats of serious bodily injury or death, or use of a deadly weapon
  • In addition to imprisonment, may receive a fine not to exceed $10,000

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