Title 14. Criminal Law

Chapter 1. Criminal Code

Part II. Offenses Against the Person

Subpart C. Rape and Sexual Battery

14:42       First degree rape

A. First degree rape is a rape committed upon a person sixty-five years of age or older or where the anal, oral, or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force.

(2) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution.

(3) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon.

(4) When the victim is under the age of thirteen years. Lack of knowledge of the victim’s age shall not be a defense.

(5) When two or more offenders participated in the act.

(6) When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the victim suffers from a physical or mental infirmity preventing such resistance.

B. For purposes of Paragraph (5), “participate” shall mean:

(1) Commit the act of rape.

(2) Physically assist in the commission of such act.

C. For purposes of this Section, the following words have the following meanings:

(1) “Physical infirmity” means a person who is a quadriplegic or paraplegic.

(2) “Mental infirmity” means a person with an intelligence quotient of seventy or lower.

D. (1) Whoever commits the crime of first degree rape shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

(2) However, if the victim was under the age of thirteen years, as provided by Paragraph (A)(4) of this Section:

(a) And if the district attorney seeks a capital verdict, the offender shall be punished by death or life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, in accordance with the determination of the jury. The provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 782 relative to cases in which punishment may be capital shall apply.

(b) And if the district attorney does not seek a capital verdict, the offender shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 782 relative to cases in which punishment is necessarily confinement at hard labor shall apply.

E. For all purposes, “aggravated rape” and “first degree rape” mean the offense defined by the provisions of this Section and any reference to the crime of aggravated rape is the same as a reference to the crime of first degree rape. Any act in violation of the provisions of this Section committed on or after August 1, 2015, shall be referred to as “first degree rape”.

Acts 1978, No. 239, § 1. Amended by Acts 1981, No. 707, § 1; Acts 1984, No. 579, § 1; Acts 1993, No. 630, § 1; Acts 1995, No. 397, § 1; Acts 1997, No. 757, § 1; Acts 1997, No. 898, § 1; Acts 2001, No. 301, § 1; Acts 2003, No. 795, § 1; Acts 2006, No. 178, § 1; Acts 2015, No. 184, § 1; Acts 2015, No. 256, § 1.

VALIDITY

<R.S. 14:42(D)(2) was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (June 25, 2008).>