Does a perpetrator's reasonable belief that the victim consented to physical contact constitute a defense to either battery or rape?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Smith, D071479 (Cal. App. 2017):
Battery requires an unlawful use of force against another, while rape requires an unlawful act of sexual intercourse. (Pen. Code, 242 [battery], 261, subd. (a) [rape].) A perpetrator's reasonable belief that the victim consented to physical contact is a defense to either such charge. (People v. Lema (1987) 188 Cal.App.3d 1541, 1545 [battery not committed if defendant reasonably believed that sexual activities were consensual]; see
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