Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-3-401

Current through 11/5/2024 election

Section 18-3-401 - Definitions

As used in this part 4, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Actor" means the person accused of a sexual offense pursuant to this part 4.

(1.5) "Consent" means cooperation in act or attitude pursuant to an exercise of free will and with knowledge of the nature of the act. A current or previous relationship shall not be sufficient to constitute consent under the provisions of this part 4. Submission under the influence of fear shall not constitute consent. Nothing in this definition shall be construed to affect the admissibility of evidence or the burden of proof in regard to the issue of consent under this part 4.

(1.7) "Diagnostic test" means a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening test followed by a supplemental HIV test for confirmation in those instances when the HIV screening test is repeatedly reactive.

(2) "Intimate parts" means the external genitalia or the perineum or the anus or the buttocks or the pubes or the breast of any person.

(2.4) "Medical-reporting victim" means a victim who seeks medical treatment services following a sexual assault but who elects not to participate in the criminal justice system at the time the victim receives medical services.

(2.5) "Pattern of sexual abuse" means the commission of two or more incidents of sexual contact involving a child when such offenses are committed by an actor upon the same victim.

(3) "Physically helpless" means unconscious, asleep, or otherwise unable to indicate willingness to act.

(3.5) One in a "position of trust" includes, but is not limited to, any person who is a parent or acting in the place of a parent and charged with any of a parent's rights, duties, or responsibilities concerning a child, including a guardian or someone otherwise responsible for the general supervision of a child's welfare, or a person who is charged with any duty or responsibility for the health, education, welfare, or supervision of a child, including foster care, child care, family care, or institutional care, either independently or through another, no matter how brief, at the time of an unlawful act.

(4) "Sexual contact" means:

(a) The knowing touching of the victim's intimate parts by the actor, or of the actor's intimate parts by the victim, or the knowing touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim's or actor's intimate parts if that sexual contact is for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse;

(b) The knowing emission or ejaculation of seminal fluid onto any body part of the victim or the clothing covering any body part of the victim; or

(c) Knowingly causing semen, blood, urine, feces, or a bodily substance to contact any body part of the victim or the clothing covering any body part of the victim if that contact with semen, blood, urine, feces, or a bodily substance is for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse.

(5) "Sexual intrusion" means any intrusion, however slight, by any object or any part of a person's body, except the mouth, tongue, or penis, into the genital or anal opening of another person's body if that sexual intrusion can reasonably be construed as being for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse.

(6) "Sexual penetration" means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus, or anal intercourse. Emission need not be proved as an element of any sexual penetration. Any penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the crime.

(7) "Victim" means the person alleging to have been subjected to a criminal sexual assault.

C.R.S. § 18-3-401

Amended by 2019 Ch. 76, § 1, eff. 7/1/2019.

Amended by 2013 Ch. 215, § 1, eff. 5/13/2013.

L. 75: Entire part R&RE, p. 627, § 1, effective July 1. L. 83: (4) amended, p. 697, § 1, effective March 3; (3.5) added, p. 693, § 1, effective June 15. L. 86: (3.5) amended, p. 770, § 6 effective July 1. L. 88: (2) amended, p. 712, § 17, effective July 1. L. 89: (2.5) added, p. 903, § 1, effective June 1. L. 90: (3.5) amended, p. 1028, § 15, effective July 1. L. 92: (1.5) added, p. 322, § 3, effective July 1. L. 93: (2) and (4) amended, p. 1731, § 15, effective July 1. L. 2000: (1.7) added, p. 452, § 5, effective April 24. L. 2003: (1) amended, p. 1432, § 22, effective April 29. L. 2013: (2.4) added, (HB 13-1163), ch. 895, p. 895, § 1, effective May 13. L. 2019: (4) amended, (HB 19 -1155), ch. 279, p. 279, § 1, effective July 1.

This section is similar to former § 18-3-409 as it existed prior to 1975.