stating belief that “Texas statutory mistake-of-fact defense already applies to the offense of consensual statutory rape” but “reluctantly” joining majority opinion and recognizing that her belief “is not a current state of the law in Texas”
How later courts described this case
- stating belief that “Texas statutory mistake-of-fact defense already applies to the offense of consensual statutory rape” but “reluctantly” joining majority opinion and recognizing that her belief “is not a current state of the law in Texas”
- stating that she “would hold that, after Lawrence v. Texas, in a limited number of child sex cases, due process requires the submission of an affirmative defense of reasonable mistake of age”
- holding that there is no culpable mental state with respect to the child’s age in a prosecution for sexual assault of a child, which is a strict-liability offense
- affirming conviction for aggravated sexual assault and finding no constitutional violation in failure to require mens rea as to victim’s age
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
COCHRAN, J.,
filed a concurring opinion.
For the reasons set out in my concurring opinions in Cells v. State 1 and Farmer v. State, 2 I believe that the Texas statutory mistake-of-fact defense already applies to the offense of consensual statutory rape. Nonetheless, I recognize that this is not the current state of the law in Texas, and therefore I reluctantly join the majority opinion.
. 416 S.W.3d 419, 441-58 (Tex.Crim.App.2013) (Cochran, J., concurring).
. 411 S.W.3d 901, 908-18 (Tex.Crim.App.2013) (Cochran, J., concurring).