GUILTY LA - Brian Downing for sexual assault of LSU fan, New Orleans, 2012

[Sooner Fan#1]

I think the charges fit too. I am not a LSU fan nor Alabama fan, but this was repulsive what they did.

I think he went way to far and he needs to be taught this is unacceptable behavior. This is just my opinion, of course.

PS. as you can probably guess, I am a Sooner Fan LOL

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I think the charges fit too. I am not a LSU fan nor Alabama fan, but this was repulsive what they did.

I think he went way to far and he needs to be taught this is unacceptable behavior. This is just my opinion, of course.

PS. as you can probably guess, I am a Sooner Fan LOL

Thanks Sooner.
He committed a felony.

I can't wait for the conviction.

JMO

 

[Sooner Fan#1]

Thanks Steely.
He committed a felony.

I can't wait for the conviction.

JMO

I'm not Steely, but it's all good!

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I'm not Steely, but it's all good!

:floorlaugh:

I'm sorry!

I'm losing it.

 

[Sooner Fan#1]

:floorlaugh:

I'm sorry!

I'm losing it.

Naaah, you'll be ok lol

 

[Lovejac]

Sexual battery??? You bet!!

If someone rubbed their hacky sack all over my face, I would definitely feel like I was sexually battered!

 

[Cappuccino]

Well, alrighty then. I'm sorry I had no way of knowing you had already loooked it up and were basing your "opinion" on the actual law. That's why I stated that I hadn't read the statute and then posted it once I did. Again, I didn't say that I thought what this idiot did wasn't a crime, just that in my OPINION it wasn't a "sexual" crime based on my personal definition of a "sexual" crime. My personal opinion and definition has nothing whatsoever to do with what my legal opinion is on the applicability of the LA sexual battery statute in this case. I'm assuming you're an LSU fan?

I am still curious as to why this does not fit your personal opinion of a sexual crime?

I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, I am just very curious as to how someone simulating a sexual act on an unconscious person for the purposes of humiliating and degrading him in front of a crowd of jeering onlookers does not constitute a sexual crime?

What is your personal definition of a sexual crime?

 

[Sooner Fan#1]

The thing that gets me is this guy is 32 years old and WAS the manager of Hibbett's. It isn't just a college kid that did something stupid and will have to have it on his record forever.

I just wish the other kids could have been charged with something. It was appalling!

 

[elainebenice]

I am still curious as to why this does not fit your personal opinion of a sexual crime?

I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, I am just very curious as to how someone simulating a sexual act on an unconscious person for the purposes of humiliating and degrading him in front of a crowd of jeering onlookers does not constitute a sexual crime?

What is your personal definition of a sexual crime?

I'm going to be honest and say that I can't really offer a great definition or argument for my opinion, but I'm just being honest as to my "gut feeling" on what I think of when I hear "sexual crime." Are my "gut feelings" always correct or fit within black letter law? Obviously not. I'm certainly not trying to pick a fight either and didn't mean to get anyone fired up by voicing my opinion on this topic, but that's what this site has always allowed me and others an opportunity to do and sometimes those opinions fit with the majority of other's opinions and sometimes they don't.

The only explanation I can offer (admittedly not a very good one) is that when I think of sexual crimes I think of crimes involving some type of sexual act, not merely the touching of sexual organs, especially where its the offender's sex organs touching the victim, but not touching the victim's sex organs or penetrating any portion of the victim's body. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that I don't think of someone placing their testicles on someone else's body as a "sex act" without further explanation or actions by the offender. The more I've thought about why I have this opinion, I haven't been able to come up with a great or persuasive explanation, but I have thought of one thing, although it still isn't great or persuasive....lol....

In my younger days, particularly during college and in my early-mid 20's, I witnessed similar acts (a male placing his testicles on the body of another male, typically when the "victim" was passed out from drinking, but not always). These situations always involved a victim and offender who were either fraternity brothers, friends, or both and it was more of another example of the ways young males can find to be disgusting to one another, especially when drunk, rather than any sort of sexual attack. Again, I am not offering this explanation as an argument as to why my opinion is correct or anyone should agree with me, but simply as the most honest answer I can give to your question.

 

[elainebenice]

I've got one more comment on this topic. It doesn't have any legal bearing whatsoever in this particular case, but I think its relevant in the big picture of our discussion nonetheless....

What the offender in the incident did would NOT be a sexual crime under any AL statute. I've posted the potentially applicable AL laws below and why they wouldn't apply.

Section 13A-6-65
Sexual misconduct.

1. A person commits the crime of sexual misconduct if:
   1. <LI sb_id="ms__id2067">Being a male, he engages in sexual intercourse with a female without her consent, under circumstances other than those covered by Sections 13A-6-61 and 13A-6-62; or with her consent where consent was obtained by the use of any fraud or artifice; or <LI sb_id="ms__id2068">Being a female, she engages in sexual intercourse with a male without his consent; or
   2. He or she engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another person under circumstances other than those covered by Sections 13A-6-63 and 13A-6-64. Consent is no defense to a prosecution under this subdivision.

- Wouldn't apply b/c actual intercourse is required

Section 13A-6-66
Sexual abuse in the first degree.

1. <LI sb_id="ms__id2089">A person commits the crime of sexual abuse in the first degree if:
   1. <LI sb_id="ms__id2091">He subjects another person to sexual contact by forcible compulsion; or
   2. He subjects another person to sexual contact who is incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated; or
   3. He, being 16 years old or older, subjects another person to sexual contact who is less than 12 years old.

- Wouldn't apply b/c sexual contact in AL is defned as "Any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person not married to the actor, done for the purpose of gratifying the sexual desire of either party." There was no gratification of sexual desire here. Same applies for Sex Abuse 2nd charges.

Section 13A-6-68
Indecent exposure.

1. A person commits the crime of indecent exposure if, with intent to arouse or gratify sexual desire of himself or of any person other than his spouse, he exposes his genitals under circumstances in which he knows his conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm in any public place or on the private premises of another or so near thereto as to be seen from such private premises.

- wouldn't apply b/c there was no intent to arouse or gratify anyone's sexual desire.

The only crime it appears he commited, should the act have happened in AL, was Public Lewdness, which is a Class C misdemeanor.

 

[Cappuccino]

Interesting. I think my feelings would be more in line with the first set of laws which were posted. I can see why some would feel otherwise, but I think this guy did cross a line that doesn't really apply when its two frat brothers/friends the same age horsing around drunk. A 32 yr old man doing that to an 18 yr old who is a complete stranger to him is different to two peers messing with each other. MOO.

 

[elainebenice]

Interesting. I think my feelings would be more in line with the first set of laws which were posted. I can see why some would feel otherwise, but I think this guy did cross a line that doesn't really apply when its two frat brothers/friends the same age horsing around drunk. A 32 yr old man doing that to an 18 yr old who is a complete stranger to him is different to two peers messing with each other. MOO.

I agree 100%.

 

[elainebenice]

Just out of my own nerdy curiosity, I decided to check out all of the Sexual Battery and similar criminal statutes from all states directly neighboring LA and here's what I found.

MS
97-3-95 - Sexual Battery
(1) A person is guilty of sexual battery if he or she engages in sexual penetration with:

(a) Another person without his or her consent;

(b) A mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless person;

(c) A child at least fourteen (14) but under sixteen (16) years of age, if the person is thirty-six (36) or more months older than the child; or

(d) A child under the age of fourteen (14) years of age, if the person is twenty-four (24) or more months older than the child.

- wouldn't apply since there was no penetration

TX (there is no sexual battery law in TX, only sexual assault)
§ 22.011. SEXUAL ASSAULT
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) intentionally or knowingly:
(A) causes the penetration of the anus or sexual
organ of another person by any means, without that person's
consent;
(B) causes the penetration of the mouth of
another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that
person's consent; or
(C) causes the sexual organ of another person,
without that person's consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth,
anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor;

- wouldn't apply since there was no penetration

Ark (no Sexual Battery law in Ark)
5-14-124. Sexual assault in the first degree
(a) A person commits sexual assault in the first degree if the person engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with a minor who is not the actor's spouse and the actor is:

- wouldn't apply b/c there are no minors involved

5-14-125. Sexual assault in the second degree
(a) A person commits sexual assault in the second degree if the person:
(1) Engages in sexual contact with another person by forcible compulsion; (2) Engages in sexual contact with another person who is incapable of consent because he or she is:
(A) Physically helpless;
(B) Mentally defective; or
(C) Mentally incapacitated;

"Sexual contact" is defined as any act of sexual gratification involving the touching, directly or through clothing, of the sex organs, or buttocks, or anus of a person or the breast of a female

- wouldn't apply b/c there was no sexual gratification
​

5-14-103. Sexual Assault Third Degree​

​

:
(A) A person commits sexual assault in the third degree if the person engages in sexual intercourse or​

deviate sexual activity with another person, not the person's spouse,

- wouldn't apply b/c there was no intercourse

Again, I'm not posting these in an attempt to argue that what happened wasn't a sexual battery under LA law, rather just as an attempt to give everyone an overview of the laws in other states, specifically those states neighboring LA.

 

[Cappuccino]

He's only narrowly missed the laws in some states though - if he'd committed the same act just a few months previously he would have been rubbing his genitals all over the face of a minor. People have been placed on the sex offenders register for less.

 

[angelmom]

I think a good lawyer could argue that the offender here did get some sexual gratification out of it.

That alone might make him rethink a plea deal. :couch:

 

[elainebenice]

I think a good lawyer could argue that the offender here did get some sexual gratification out of it.

That alone might make him rethink a plea deal. :couch:

I'm not sure I agree with that, but it doesn't matter either way in this instance since the prosecutor in this case doesn't have to prove he got any sexual gratification from it or attempted to get any sexual gratification from the act.

However, in my legal opinion, a good defense lawyer would eviscerate any prosecutor's case brought in another state under their specific statute if the case was resting solely on the gratification issue. The charges would have been something along the lines of Simple Battery and Indecent Exposure if brought in another state....IMO.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

He committed a felony in Louisiana.
I hope he is convicted.

Our laws are strict on these crimes.

I love my state.

JMO

 

[Kimberlyd125]

http://espn.go.com/college-football...brian-h-downing-pleads-not-guilty-sex-charges

Brian H. Downing pleads not guilty

NEW ORLEANS -- An Alabama fan pleaded not guilty Monday to committing sexual battery on an unconscious LSU fan after the BCS national title game, which was caught on video.

Brian H. Downing, 32, of Smiths Station, Ala., was arraigned on one count each of sexual battery of a male victim and obscenity.

His attorney Michael Kennedy said he tried to get the bond reduced, but the judge left it at $50,000.







The trial date was set for Sept. 4. A pretrial hearing will be held July 23.




***not guilty. Pfftttt
It's on video Mr. Downing.

 

[gxm]

http://espn.go.com/college-football...brian-h-downing-pleads-not-guilty-sex-charges

Brian H. Downing pleads not guilty

NEW ORLEANS -- An Alabama fan pleaded not guilty Monday to committing sexual battery on an unconscious LSU fan after the BCS national title game, which was caught on video.

Brian H. Downing, 32, of Smiths Station, Ala., was arraigned on one count each of sexual battery of a male victim and obscenity.

His attorney Michael Kennedy said he tried to get the bond reduced, but the judge left it at $50,000.







The trial date was set for Sept. 4. A pretrial hearing will be held July 23.




***not guilty. Pfftttt
It's on video Mr. Downing.

Wow. Seeing as the whole thing was caught on tape, I'm quite curious to see what sort of not guilty strategy the defense will offer up.

Man, oh man, that other kid whose girlfriend stopped him from dropping his drawers owes her big time.

 

[Lovejac]

How in the world can you plead not quilty when you are caught on tape?