Colorado § 18-3-402 Sexual assault

Colorado Statutes

§ 18-3-402 — Sexual assault

Colorado § 18-3-402

Title 18Criminal

Art.Offenses Against the Person

This text of Colorado § 18-3-402 (Sexual assault) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-3-402 (2026).

Text

(1)Any actor who knowingly inflicts sexual intrusion or sexual penetration on a victim commits sexual assault if:

(a)The actor causes sexual intrusion or sexual penetration knowing the victim does not consent; or

(b)The actor knows that the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of the victim's conduct; or

(c)The actor knows that the victim submits erroneously, believing the actor to be the victim's spouse; or

(d)At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is less than fifteen years of age and the actor is at least four years older than the victim and is not the spouse of the victim; or

(e)At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is at least fifteen years of age but less than seventeen years of age and the actor is at least ten years older than

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(1) Any actor who knowingly inflicts sexual
intrusion or sexual penetration on a victim commits sexual assault if:

(a) The actor causes sexual intrusion or sexual penetration knowing the
victim does not consent; or

(b) The actor knows that the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of
the victim's conduct; or

(c) The actor knows that the victim submits erroneously, believing the actor
to be the victim's spouse; or

(d) At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is less than fifteen
years of age and the actor is at least four years older than the victim and is not the
spouse of the victim; or

(e) At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is at least fifteen
years of age but less than seventeen years of age and the actor is at least ten years
older than the victim and is not the spouse of the victim; or

(f) The victim is in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution
and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over the victim and uses this
position of authority to coerce the victim to submit, unless the act is incident to a
lawful search; or

(g) The actor, while purporting to offer a medical service, engages in
treatment or examination of a victim for other than a bona fide medical purpose or
in a manner substantially inconsistent with reasonable medical practices; or

(h) The victim is physically helpless and the actor knows the victim is
physically helpless and the victim has not consented.

(2) Sexual assault is a class 4 felony, except as provided in subsections (3),
(3.5), (4), and (5) of this section.

(3) If committed under the circumstances of subsection (1)(e) of this section,
sexual assault is a class 6 felony. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
person convicted of subsection (1)(e) of this section is eligible to petition for
removal from the registry in accordance with section 16-22-113 (1)(b).

(3.5) Sexual assault is a class 3 felony if committed under the circumstances
described in paragraph (h) of subsection (1) of this section.

(4) Sexual assault is a class 3 felony if it is attended by any one or more of
the following circumstances:

(a) The actor causes submission of the victim through the actual application
of physical force or physical violence; or

(b) The actor causes submission of the victim by threat of imminent death,
serious bodily injury, extreme pain, or kidnapping, to be inflicted on anyone, and the
victim believes that the actor has the present ability to execute these threats; or

(c) The actor causes submission of the victim by threatening to retaliate in
the future against the victim, or any other person, and the victim reasonably
believes that the actor will execute this threat. As used in this paragraph (c), to
retaliate includes threats of kidnapping, death, serious bodily injury, or extreme
pain.

(d) The actor has substantially impaired the victim's power to appraise or
control the victim's conduct by employing, without the victim's consent, any drug,
intoxicant, or other means for the purpose of causing submission.

(e) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2002, p. 1578, � 2, effective July 1, 2002.)

(5) (a) Sexual assault is a class 2 felony if any one or more of the following
circumstances exist:

(I) In the commission of the sexual assault, the actor is physically aided or
abetted by one or more other persons; or

(II) The victim suffers serious bodily injury; or

(III) The actor is armed with a deadly weapon or an article used or fashioned
in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly
weapon or represents verbally or otherwise that the actor is armed with a deadly
weapon and uses the deadly weapon, article, or representation to cause submission
of the victim.

(b) (I) If a defendant is convicted of sexual assault pursuant to this
subsection (5), the court shall sentence the defendant in accordance with section
18-1.3-401 (8)(e). A person convicted solely of sexual assault pursuant to this
subsection (5) shall not be sentenced under the crime of violence provisions of
section 18-1.3-406 (2). Any sentence for a conviction under this subsection (5) shall
be consecutive to any sentence for a conviction for a crime of violence under
section 18-1.3-406.

(II) The provisions of this paragraph (b) shall apply to offenses committed
prior to November 1, 1998.

(6) Any person convicted of felony sexual assault committed on or after
November 1, 1998, under any of the circumstances described in this section shall be
sentenced in accordance with the provisions of part 10 of article 1.3 of this title.

(7) A person who is convicted on or after July 1, 2013, of a sexual assault
under this section, upon conviction, shall be advised by the court that the person
has no right:

(a) To notification of the termination of parental rights and no standing to
object to the termination of parental rights for a child conceived as a result of the
commission of that offense;

(b) To allocation of parental responsibilities, including parenting time and
decision-making responsibilities for a child conceived as a result of the commission
of that offense;

(c) Of inheritance from a child conceived as a result of the commission of
that offense; and

(d) To notification of or the right to object to the adoption of a child
conceived as a result of the commission of that offense.

Legislative History

Source: L. 75: Entire part R&RE, p. 628, � 1, effective July 1. L. 77: (1) amended, p. 962, � 15, effective July 1. L. 83: IP(1) amended, p. 698, � 1, effective July 1. L. 85: (2) R&RE and (3) and (4) amended, pp. 666, 667, �� 1, 2, effective July 1. L. 95: (4) amended, p. 1252, � 9, effective July 1. L. 98: (4) amended, p. 1293, � 13, effective November 1. L. 2000: Entire section R&RE, p. 698, � 18, effective July 1. L. 2002: (1)(g), (2), and (4)(e) amended and (1)(h) and (3.5) added, p. 1578, �� 1, 2, effective July 1; (5)(b)(I) and (6) amended, p. 1512, � 189, effective October 1. L. 2004: (3) and (6) amended, p. 635, � 5, effective August 4. L. 2013: (7) added, (SB 13-227), ch. 353, p. 2060, � 6, effective July 1. L. 2021: (3) amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3174, � 197, effective March 1, 2022. L. 2022: (1)(a) amended, (HB 22-1169), ch. 41, p. 214, � 1, effective July 1.