Opinion ID: 877065
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the consent issue

Text: With relation to defendant's argument that the State failed to prove the boy did not consent to the sexual touching, we must preface our analysis with a brief statement of the existing statutory law applying to the issue of consent where the charge is sexual assault. Defendant was convicted of violating section 45-5-502, MCA. Neither this statute nor any other applicable statute, provided that consent is ineffective if the victim is under a certain age. (Although not applicable here, this statute has since been amended to provide that consent cannot be given if the victim is less than 14 years old. See section 45-5-502(5), MCA.) Because of this legislative omission, defendant contends that the State must prove lack of consent regardless of the age of the victim. We are faced with two anomalies. First, we must analyze the evidence to determine whether the evidence was sufficient to establish that the boy did not consent to the sexual touching. Obviously, if the evidence was insufficient, the trial court's decision must be reversed and the charges ordered dismissed. Assuming that the evidence is sufficient (and we so find), we are confronted by a bare bones set of findings and conclusions, from which it is not apparent the precise legal basis upon which the trial court decided the issue of consent. The defendant argues that the failure to set forth in the conclusions, the legal theory upon which the consent was found, necessitates a reversal. First, to an analysis of the evidence. The consent issue is raised here because the State failed to ask a direct question of the boy  as to whether he consented to the contacts. Our job here, however, is first to determine whether there is sufficient evidence in the record from which the trial court could determine that the boy did not consent, even though the legal basis for such conclusion was not set forth. After the first sexual touching in November 1978, the boy was angered and moved away from the defendant. The boy testified that after this incident, he stayed away from the Hot Springs swimming pool because he did not wish to be near the defendant. Another sexual touching occurred when the defendant asked the young boy and his sister and brother to get into the car with him and listen to music. Indeed, it was this sexual touching which prompted the boy to tell his parents. The third sexual touching took place in a situation where the boy was instructed to get in the swimming pool, and where the conduct of the defendant and the boy was observed. The boy was specifically instructed not to do anything to entice the defendant towards him. The record is barren of any evidence that the boy enticed the defendant to be near him or that when he did come near, that he consented to any touching at all. Indeed, the boy was walking on his hands in the swimming pool when the defendant grabbed him and turned him rightside up. Almost immediately, the defendant then shoved his hand inside the boy's swimming trunks and touched him. The boy pulled away in anger and got out of the defendant's reach. This episode was observed by two police officers who were stationed there to specifically observe the conduct, primarily of the defendant, but also that of the boy. Defendant contends that this evidence fails to lay a basis for a legally sufficient conclusion that the boy did not consent to the sexual touching on each of the occasions involved. Defendant contends that only direct evidence from the mouth of the boy that he did not consent could establish that he did not consent to the sexual touchings. But this argument ignores the reality of a small boy being confronted by an adult under embarrassing circumstances. Undoubtedly, the consent issue would have presented a cleaner case if the boy had uttered the magic words in front of the trial judge that he did not consent to the sexual touchings, but this failure does not render the evidence insufficient. There is absolutely nothing in the record to indicate that the boy permitted the sexual touchings to occur. Indeed, as is so often the case in situations such as this, the events took place so fast that there was hardly time for a young boy (or anyone, for that matter) to have advance warning of what was about to take place. On both occasions involved, the boy was angered and moved away from the defendant. This hardly demonstrates that the boy approved of such conduct. The fact that the boy reported an intervening incident to his parent is indicative, albeit circumstantially, of a lack of consent. The failure of the boy to utter the magic words does not ipso facto establish the insufficiency of the evidence. Our task here, however, does not end with a holding that the evidence is sufficient for sustaining a finding of guilt. We are left with a sufficient evidentiary record and with no precise basis of determining how the trial court reached its decision. The sexual assault statute, which contains the consent requirement at issue here, section 45-5-502(1), MCA, reads as follows: A person who knowingly subjects another not his spouse to any sexual contact without consent commits the offense of sexual assault. (Emphasis added.) It is clear that one of the elements the State must prove is that the sexual touching took place without consent of the victim. It is equally clear that every element of a crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In re Winship (1970), 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368. At the conclusion of the trial, defendant moved the trial court to dismiss the assault charges or to grant a directed verdict on the ground that the State failed to prove lack of consent to the sexual touching. The State asked the trial court to open up the trial to permit additional evidence on the consent issue. The trial court took this motion under advisement and ultimately denied it. Briefs were then filed by both sides on the issue of consent. The State defended the consent issue on three grounds: First, that circumstantial evidence was sufficient to reach a conclusion that the State proved lack of consent; second, that sections 45-5-501 and 45-5-503, MCA, which provide that a victim under the age of 16 is incapable of consenting to an act of sexual intercourse, should also apply to the sexual assault charges filed under section 45-5-502; and third, that general definitional and case law dictate an application of the common law rule that someone 10 years old or younger is incapable of legally consenting to anything. In this appeal, the State concedes the inapplicability of either of its arguments with relation to inability to consent as a matter of law. The State thus concentrates on its first approach: that the circumstantial evidence existing is sufficient to prove the lack of consent. We agree with this assessment. However, the findings and conclusions entered by the trial court do not tell us on what legal basis the trial court determined the issue of consent. Did the trial court determine as a matter of evidence only that the State had proved lack of consent? Or did the trial court determine that the young boy was, as a matter of law, incapable of giving consent by either of the two theories advanced by the State? With relation to the first charge of sexual assault, the pertinent finding (No. 9) provides: The old man also asked Chris if he liked hot water. Christopher replied that he did. The old man then asked him `Does it give you a hard on?' Chris said, `What?' and then the old man stuck his hand down Chris' swimming suit and felt his `privates'. Chris pulled away from the old man and felt mad. (Emphasis added.) The conclusion of law with relation to the issue of consent (No. 6) states: That on or about the 19th day of November, 1978, the defendant, John L. Price, age 65, subjected Chris, a child of ten, not his spouse, to sexual contact without consent.  (Emphasis added.) The findings and conclusions with relation to the second assault charge similarly fail to reveal the legal basis upon which the consent issue was decided. The pertinent finding (No. 13) provides: Gallatin County Sheriff's deputies Pearson, Brown and Schumacher, took up various vantage points around the pool. Deputy Schumacher was stationed in the ceiling above the pool and could observe all that occurred therein. He saw a white haired old man with a white beard approaching Chris, who attempted to get away. The old man eventually caught up with Chris and picked him up by his feet and let him down and then approached Chris and appeared to thrust his hand down into Chris' swimming suit. Chris pulled away and then immediately got out of the pool. Chris stated that the old white haired man had put his hand into his swimming suit and felt his `private'. The old man also asked, as he put his hand into Chris' pants, if Chris wanted to get a hard on. Chris felt mad after this happened. (Emphasis added.) The conclusion of law with relation to this same event in relation to the consent issue (No. 9) provides: That on or about the 17th day of December, 1978, the defendant, John L. Price, age 65, subjected Chris, a child aged ten, not his spouse, to sexual contact without consent. (Emphasis added.) As we have already stated, lack of consent could be proved by circumstantial evidence, and there was sufficient evidence to support a determination of lack of consent. In this situation, there are well-established rules of appellate law which apply to sustain the judgment of conviction entered by the Court on the counts of sexual assault. In State v. Duncan (1979), Mont., 593 P.2d 1026, 1034, 36 St.Rep. 748, 758, we said a District Court in a criminal bench trial was under no statutory duty, except in death penalty cases (section 46-18-306, MCA), to make findings, but was merely obliged to enter a general verdict of innocence or guilt. Error of the District Court is not presumed, State v. Boe (1963), 143 Mont. 141, 388 P.2d 372; indeed every presumption is in favor of a judgment of conviction on appeal if any substantial evidence supports it. State v. Stoddard (1966), 147 Mont. 402, 412 P.2d 827. The conclusions of law reached by the District Court could be construed to mean that the court found lack of the victim's consent from his incapacity as a 10-year-old to consent, or that in any event the boy did not consent. Conclusions of law reached by a trial court do not enjoy the same level of inviolability that findings of fact are accorded on appeal (see e.g., Rule 52(a), M.R. Civ.P.). This Court is in at least an equal position with the District Court to determine the appropriate conclusion of law to be reached from the facts found in a case. Since we have found that there was sufficient evidence adduced to support a conclusion that the boy did not in fact consent to defendant's unlawful acts, all the presumptions are in favor of the judgment of conviction, as we have shown. We, therefore, sustain the conviction on the sexual assault counts.