Under § 794.011(1)(j), Fla. Stat. (2022), sexual battery is defined as vaginal, oral, or anal penetration of the vagina or anus with any object or the perpetrator’s sex organ. Penetration for an authorized medical purpose is excluded. Other definitions that are included in this statute are also important to sexual battery cases. Consent includes voluntary, knowing, and intelligent consent without coercion. Just because an alleged victim doesn’t physically resist the perpetrator does not mean that they have consented to the sexual activity.
A person is deemed as mentally defective if they have a mental defect or disease that temporarily or permanently renders them incapable of understanding the nature of their conduct. A mentally incapacitated person is defined in the statute as someone who is temporarily unable to control or evaluate their conduct because of the influence of an intoxicating substance, anesthetic, or narcotic that was administered without their consent.
The statute defines someone as physically helpless when they are asleep, unconscious, or otherwise physically incapable of communicating their unwillingness to engage in a sex act. A physically incapacitated person is someone who has a bodily impairment that substantially limits their ability to flee or resist. The statute defines retaliation as including threats of future harm, kidnapping, confinement, physical punishment, false imprisonment, or extortion if the victim refuses the act or physically resists. Finally, serious physical injury includes an injury that causes severe pain, great bodily harm, permanent disfigurement, or permanent disability.
