Does a defense based on a reasonable but mistaken belief in the victim's capacity to give legal consent have to have been objectively reasonable?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Golden, B257243 (Cal. App. 2015):
Thus, any defense based on defendant's reasonable but mistaken belief in the victim's capacity to give legal consent, defendant's belief would have to have been objectively reasonable. As we have already determined that substantial evidence supported a finding that a reasonable person would have known that the victim was incapable of giving legal consent, "defendant's subjective belief was beside the point." (People v. Braslaw, supra, 233 Cal.App.4th at p. 1251.)
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