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SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
Definition 1: "Sexual intercourse" means
vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, fellatio or cunnilingus between
persons regardless of sex. Its meaning is limited to persons not married
to each other. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete
vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse or fellatio and does not require
emission of semen. Penetration may be committed by an object
manipulated by the actor into the genital or anal opening of the
complainant's body.
Source: General Statutes § 53a-65
(2) (applies to Part VI: Sex Offenses, §§ 53a-67 -- 53a-90a).
Commentary: The definition of
sexual intercourse includes four alternative means of performing sexual
intercourse that are not conceptually distinct. See State v.
Anderson, 211 Conn. 18, 35 (1989) ("[t]he several ways in which
sexual intercourse may be committed under General Statutes § 53a-65 (2)
are only one conceptual offense"); see also State v. Griffin, 97
Conn. App. 169, 181-85, cert. denied, 280 Conn. 925 (2006) (the court's
instruction that sexual intercourse included vaginal intercourse or
cunnilingus did not constitute a non-unanimous instruction of two
conceptually distinct alternatives).
"[T]he phrase 'penetration, however slight,'
evinced an intent to incorporate, into our statutory law, the common-law
least penetration doctrine." State v. Albert, 252 Conn. 795, 804
(2000) (concluding that penetration, however slight, of the external
genitalia is sufficient to constitute vaginal intercourse). Albert
has a lengthy discussion of the legislative history of this definition.
In State v. Scott, 256 Conn. 517, 529
(2001), the Supreme Court held that the trial court's failure to
instruct the jury that penetration is an element of the crime of sexual
assault in the first degree by fellatio deprived the defendant of a fair
trial. The court concluded that "the penetration requirement is met,
for purposes of first degree sexual assault by fellatio, when a
perpetrator forcibly inserts his penis into the victim's mouth. . . .
The act of licking a penis, by contrast, does not satisfy the
penetration element of §§ 53a-70 and 53a-65 (2)." Id., 534-35.
The Court concluded in State v. Kish, 186
Conn. 757, 762-66 (1982), that the definition of sexual intercourse
specifically omits cunnilingus when discussing penetration because
penetration is not an element of the crime when cunnilingus is charged.
The limitation specified in the definition that
it only applies to "persons not married to each other" incorporates the
common-law marriage exemption to a charge of rape. See State v.
Scott, 11 Conn. App. 102, 112-19, cert. denied, 204 Conn. 811
(1987). Note that General Statutes § 53a-70b, Sexual assault in spousal
or cohabiting relationship, contains its own definition of sexual
intercourse, which omits this limitation.
Definition 2: "Sexual intercourse" means
intercourse, real or simulated, whether genital-genital, oral-genital,
anal-genital or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or
opposite sex or between a human and an animal, or with an artificial
genital.
Source: General Statutes §
53a-193 (9) (applies to Part XX: Obscenity and Related Offenses, §§
53a-194 -- 53a-210).
Glossary
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