A had sexual intercourse with B because A misidentified B as her boyfriend. Did B committed sexual assault? B has similar facial characteristics with A's boyfriend, C. A had sex with B with both sides' consent. B did not lie about his identity. Later A find out that B is actually not her boyfriend. Does A has reasonable ground to claim it a sexual assault (or rape, or other similar offense)? Answer from US, Canada, Europe, or any other countries is welcome.
canada Avoiding an overly literal reading of your assertion that &quot;both sides consent&quot; The actus reus of sexual assault is sexual touching without the consent of the complainant. In your scenario, you say that &quot;both sides&quot; consented. If this is truly the case, then there is no sexual assault. But I don't think you meant to say this. As I explain below, in order to consent, A must not have been mistaken about the identity of B: A could not have thought that B was C. If she was mistaken, as you assert in the title and in the second paragraph, then she was not consenting at law in Canada. Thus, I will assume you have used &quot;consent&quot; more colloquially, and move on to assess the scenario in which A merely &quot;consented&quot; in the sense that she was not physically or otherwise coerced into the physical acts. Can mistaken identity result in sexual assault? Yes In your scenario, where A thought B was C, the actus reus of sexual assault has occured: sexual touching without A's subjective consent. This is because consent is linked to the identity of the partner (see R. v. Barton, 2019 SCC 33 at para. 88). See also R. v. Hutchinson, 2014 SCC 19 at para. 57-58, 63: a complainant’s mistaken belief about the identity of the partner or the sexual nature of the act — whether or not that mistake is the result of a deception — will result in no consent under s. 273.1(1) of the Criminal Code.&quot; ... if a complainant agrees to sexual activity with A, who is a specific individual known personally to her, she is not agreeing to sexual activity with B ... the Ontario Court of Appeal in R. v. G.C., 2010 ONCA 451, 266 O.A.C. 299, leave to appeal refused, [2010] 3 S.C.R. v, adopted this approach and held that the complainant’s belief that the partner was her boyfriend when it was in fact his identical twin resulted in no consent to the “sexual activity in question” under s. 273.1 of the Criminal Code. (See also R. v. O.A., 2013 ONCA 581, 310 O.A.C. 305.) Since A was mistaken about the identity of the partner, there was no consent. B may very well have a defence available: mistaken belief in communicated consent (R. v. Barton). This defence asserts that the accused did not possess the mens rea of sexual assault (which is knowing of the lack of consent, or being reckless as to the lack of consent). This defence asserts that, despite A not consenting, B believed that A did consent. This was the attempted defence in G.C. and O.A., cited above. For this defence to be successful, B's belief in A's communicated consent must be based on reasonable steps taken by B to ascertain consent. Whether the steps taken by B were reasonable depends on what was known to B at the time. the accused must take steps that are objectively reasonable, and the reasonableness of those steps must be assessed in light of the circumstances known to the accused at the time In your scenario, you have not asserted that there is anything known to B about &quot;similar facial characteristics [he shares] with A's boyfriend.&quot; However if it is well-known to B that he looks like C, and depending on how similar the features are, and depending on what B knew about A's ability to discern the difference between B and C this might put an obligation on B to affirmatively confirm with crystal clear language that A knows that B is not C, failing which, he would not have the defence of mistaken belief in communicated consent. For example, in G.C. (the identical-twin case), &quot;[t]he trial judge recited the relevant facts of that night known to the appellant and concluded that without doing more than he did to make his identity perfectly clear to the complainant, the appellant could not be said to have taken reasonable steps necessary to ascertain that the complainant was consenting.&quot; Anticipating comments that will always come up about evidence: this answer intentionally skips over questions like &quot;how would you prove X in court.&quot; This answer only says what the law is and what would have to be proven. If you would like to read about evidence and how to prove facts in court, please see this answer to the question How do you prove a fact at issue in litigation?
Hope you have a good prosecutor and a sympathetic judge "They asked repeatedly how much she had to drink ..." Objection: Asked and answered "how she could claim not to remember certain details" Objection: Calls for a conclusion/speculation. The witness is not a brain scientist, she cannot speculate as to why people remember some details and not others. She is testifying as to what she does remember, not as to why she doesn't remember things. "asking if she had not been flirting with him in the days before the incident" Objection: Relevance. Is the defense seriously suggesting that flirtation, if it happened, in the preceding days amounts to consent at the time of the incident? "asked her why she had not chosen a more modest one" Objection: Relevance. Is the defense now suggesting that what the witness wore amounts to consent?
england-and-wales Yes As well as the general offence of comtempt of court by publishing facts in breach of a court order, there are also two statutory provisions making it an offence if those facts reveal a person's identity (maliciously or not): section 1, Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992: (1) Where an allegation has been made that an offence to which this Act applies has been committed against a person, no matter relating to that person shall during that person’s lifetime be included in any publication if it is likely to lead members of the public to identify that person as the person against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed. (2) Where a person is accused of an offence to which this Act applies, no matter likely to lead members of the public to identify a person as the person against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed (“the complainant”) shall during the complainant’s lifetime be included in any publication. [...] The relevant offences are listed in section 2 (being rape and a number of other serious sexual offences). section 49, Children and Young Persons Act 1933: (1) No matter relating to any child or young person concerned in proceedings to which this section applies shall while he is under the age of 18 be included in any publication if it is likely to lead members of the public to identify him as someone concerned in the proceedings. (2) The proceedings to which this section applies are— (a) proceedings in a youth court; (b) proceedings on appeal from a youth court (including proceedings by way of case stated); (c) proceedings in a magistrates' court under Schedule 7 to the Sentencing Code (proceedings for breach, revocation or amendment of youth rehabilitation orders); (d) proceedings on appeal from a magistrates' court arising out of any proceedings mentioned in paragraph (c) (including proceedings by way of case stated). [...]
Your question is essentially this: consider a defamation lawsuit in which A alleges that B falsely stated that A did X (and it is not contested that B made the statement) also consider that B has done X in the past is it of any relevance to A's defamation suit that B has done X in the past canada Evidence must be relevant to a live, material issue In order for evidence to be admissible it must be &quot;relevant to a live, material issue in the case&quot; (this is from a dissent, but there is no disagreement about this point). Stage 1: Did B make a defamatory statement about A that was published - no relevance to this issue Defamation is prima facie proven if B's statement was published and if it tended to lower the reputation of A. The fact that B has done X in the past is irrelevant to this aspect of the analysis, especially when the defendant is not alleging that they did not say &quot;A did X.&quot; Stage 2: Defences - there is a very narrow path for relevance on this issue Once defamation is prima facie proven, the burden flips to the defendant to establish a defence. Of all the possible defences, the only one in which I could see B having done X in the past being relevant is the defence of fair comment: (a) the comment must be on a matter of public interest; (b) the comment must be based on fact; (c) the comment, though it can include inferences of fact, must be recognisable as comment; (d) the comment must satisfy the following objective test: could any [person] honestly express that opinion on the proved facts? (e) even though the comment satisfies the objective test the defence can be defeated if the plaintiff proves that the defendant was [subjectively] actuated by express malice. The fact the B has done X in the past could be relevant to this defence if B were to use that familiarity with the activity X as part of the commentary on why they believe that A has done X. It could also be relevant (not on its own, but along with much more context) for an allegation of malice on B's part. Conclusion: Evidence that B did X in the past would likely not be relevant I see it very unlikely that B having done X in the past would be relevant. It would likely be treated as a collateral issue, unless B's credibility somehow became absolutely central to the litigation and if the judge was convinced that such acts relate to credibility. On the facts as described, and even for a fair comment defence, I don't see that being the case.
Possibly negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter. Really dependson the state where this happens and the exact elements that need to be proven. Lester has asked his wife to do something that he knows might result in her death and does not warn her. He probably has a duty to warn her.
Claim is irrelevant. Specific to Maryland Law, Assault occurs when one makes or attempts to make physical contact with another OR intentionally frightens another. Alice saying she helped to steal the car and your definition of the theft as &quot;accosted Carol&quot; implies one of the three forms of Assault took place. Alice just admitted to commiting the crime she thought was wrongly charged to her. The crime she was trying to get out of is called &quot;Assault and Battery&quot; which is where Assault leads to actual injury or physical harm to the victim OR attempts to actually injure or harm another OR puts them in fear of such action. In Maryland Law, the Battery portion almost always is paired with assault while in other states, it might be possible to commit Battery without Assault (though in these states, normally a separate assault charge to Battery is usually added.). As a helpful tip, the two words general break down as follows: Assault: The act of threatening harm or making unwanted non-injurious contact with another person. Battery: Causing Injurious Harm to another person. In Maryland, Alice was rightly charged with assault. Upon capture, Bob will recieve an &quot;Assault and Battery&quot; charge for hitting Carol with the stolen card and may get an addition simple Assault charge for the threats before he drove away.
It might or it might not be fraud. The outcome will depend on how the facts and evidence are interpreted at trial. A more general version of this question is: If two parties discuss and orally agree to X; then sign a contract that states they agree to Y, what are the parties bound to? X? Y? Or something else? In your version, X is a fraudulent statement. And Y is an obfuscated writing. One party will argue fraud. The other will argue not fraud on the basis that all the facts were disclosed in writing. The party alleging fraud will carry the burden of proof. The standard of proof will be preponderance of evidence (more than 50%). Generally speaking, written evidence outweighs oral evidence if not accompanied by substantiating facts. Substantiating facts could be: emails or other written correspondence, a prior history or pattern of making false claims to others regarding this investment, the respective behavior of the parties after the agreement was made or anything else that corroborates the oral testimony presented at trial.
england-and-wales Is this illegal? YES, NO, MAYBE Context is everything, and it depends on whether this was just playful (for want of a much better word) or sexual touching. Assuming that the &quot;grandma&quot; is actually her grandmother, the likely offence - if there is one at all - would be sexual activity with a child family member contrary to s.25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003: A person (A) [i.e. grandma] commits an offence if — (a) [s]he intentionally touches another person (B) [i.e. the child], (b) the touching is sexual, (c) the relation of A to B is within section 27 [which includes grandparents], ... (e) — ... (ii) B is under 13. Touching is defined at s.79(8): (8) Touching includes touching — (a) with any part of the body, ... (c) through anything [e.g. panties] ... Sexual is defined at s.78 as: penetration, touching or any other activity is sexual if a reasonable person would consider that — (a) whatever its circumstances or any person’s purpose in relation to it, it is because of its nature sexual, or (b) because of its nature it may be sexual and because of its circumstances or the purpose of any person in relation to it (or both) it is sexual. A key point to prove is whether s.25(1)(b) is met or not, so again: context is everything. Is it legal only for women to do? NO - Both males and females (over the age of criminal responsibility of 10) can commit any sexual offence apart from rape which is purely male-specific for anatomical reasons.