Opinion ID: 1222969
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: forcible sexual abuse

Text: So far as pertinent to the facts of this case, U.C.A., 1953, § 76-5-404 defines the crime of forcible sexual abuse, a felony of the third degree, as follows: A person commits forcible sexual abuse if, under circumstances not amounting to rape or sodomy, or attempted rape or sodomy, the actor touches the anus or any part of the genitals of another, or otherwise takes indecent liberties with another, ... with intent to cause substantial emotional or bodily pain to any person or with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person, without the consent of the other... . [Emphasis added.] In State in re J.L.S., Utah, 610 P.2d 1294 (1980), a juvenile had approached a motel maid from the rear while she was cleaning a bathtub, putting his hands on her clothed breasts. Construing the term indecent liberties in § 76-5-404, this Court held that the brief touching of clothed breasts did not constitute the felony of forcible sexual abuse. Indecent liberties included only conduct of the same magnitude of gravity as touching the anus or genitals of another... . Id. at 1296. Under that precedent and principle, we hold that the touching involved in this case did not constitute the felony of taking indecent liberties as defined in § 76-5-404. If the brief touching of a clothed breast does not constitute that crime, as we held in J.L.S., supra, we are unable to see how the brief touching of a clothed buttocks is any more felonious. Consequently, the jurisdiction of the juvenile court cannot be based upon the juvenile's commission of the act forbidden in U.C.A., 1953, § 76-5-404.