Consent is when someone gives permission to sexual activity with another person which can be withdrawn at any point from either party. Consent cannot be validly given by a person who is underage or incapacitated in any way. Such as under the influence of alcohol. As well as consent is also considered when a person is at legal age and has the legal ability to enter into a relationship with another person. In consideration of a sex assault case. Consent is when two people agree that the sexual interaction they have is what they want to do. And it is not against the law as long as the individuals have the ability to give the consent, and it has not been manipulated. As well as no issues such as the use of date rape drugs or alcohol impairment.
If you are facing charges of a sex crime on campus and facing issues of consent, the services of a Lubbock student sex crimes lawyer is essential. A student defense sex crimes lawyer with experience in a variety of cases will best be able to protect your rights and build a defense.
How Courts and Universities Treat Consent
There are differences between the way courts view consent and the way colleges or universities treat consent in campus sex crimes in Lubbock. The courts view consent as someone being of legal age with the ability to enter into a relationship. Because of the issue of Title 9 being involved with campuses and the potential of bad press, universities take a much tougher stance and heavily investigate the issue of consent.
It is one thing for the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to get a conviction that there was no consent. It is a lot easier for a board made up of students, faculty. And professors to find that there was a violation of the code and remove the person from school through an expulsion.
Factors of Sexual Consent
Usually, there are no independent witnesses and the accused sex crime is typically a he-said/she-said situation. One party believes it was consensual, while the other party says they did not consent to it. The biggest problem is in considering consent is there is no video. Or a recording of the two parties giving their consent. In the actual act, there are no witnesses. There may be witnesses to the relationship who say both parties were intoxicated. Or they were showing affection toward each other. However, it often comes down to the credibility of the person making the statement. And the credibility of the student accused of the offense.
An experienced attorney will want to know what happened that evening and if there are any witnesses. To find weaknesses of the claim and the credibility of the accusation. The attorney must find out more background information on the accuser and the accused.
Affirmative Sexual Consent
When both students give consent and the act did not go outside of the consent. There is not a valid criminal case and there should not be any type of violation of Texas Tech’s honor code. Every school is different and their code of conduct will vary. At Texas Tech, there are no stipulations in the honor code to prevent two adults from having sex. As long as there is consent. However, there are some cases where there is consent for one sex act. But possibly no consent given for another consent act. For purposes under the law, if the state is going to convict somebody. They must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no consent was given. As someone gets closer to the gray area. It is more likely they could be convicted of some sort of sexual assault.
Working with a Student Defense Lawyer
A lawyer can put together potential witnesses as there may not be a witness to the actual act. When investigating a case involving a question of consent in campus sex crimes in Lubbock. The couple may have been at the bar, a club. Or a sporting event and there may be people who observed the way they were engaged in a relationship.
Once a lawyer gets onboard and conducts an investigation, they may try to have a polygraph of the person accused with the crime done to see if there are issues. If they pass a polygraph, although that may not be admissible in the court of law. It may be something that helps prove to the Title 9 investigator on campus that the accused is telling the truth and it is possible the other person fabricated the story.