Theopulus Gordon could have prevented the death of Eric Robinson last September, but he didn’t.FORT WAYNE – Indiana’s sex crime statutes can be found in Chapter 4 of Section 42 of Title 35 of the Indiana Criminal Code.
The crimes are listed as follows: rape; criminal deviate conduct; child molesting; child exploitation (possession of child pornography); vicarious sexual gratification; child solicitation; child seduction; sexual battery; and sexual misconduct with a minor.
The Class B felony crime – punishable by six to 20 years in prison – of rape is somewhat similar to the federal government’s now-outdated definition: knowingly or intentionally having sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex when the person is compelled by force, unaware, or mentally disabled or deficient.
Rape becomes a Class A felony – punishable by 20 to 50 years – if there is a threat of deadly force, the perpetrator is armed with a deadly weapon, the attack results in bodily injury or the victim is furnished with a drug.
The key to rape in Indiana is “sexual intercourse with member of the opposite sex.”
If a person is attacked by a member of the same sex, or an object is used in the assault, then the crime falls under Indiana’s criminal deviate conduct statute, which is identical in terms of level of seriousness, but non-gender specific.
Criminal deviate conduct is committed when a person knowingly or intentionally causes another person to perform deviate sexual conduct, in the same way as the rape statute, when the person is compelled by force, unaware or mentally disabled or deficient. If a weapon is used, there is injury or the perpetrator slipped the victim a drug, then it is upped to a Class A felony.
Deviate sexual conduct is described as an act involving “the sex organ of one person and the mouth or anus of another person or the penetration of the sex organ or anus of a person by an object,” according to the Indiana Criminal Code.
