N. Consent

• Library: The Criminal Law of South Carolina (SCBar) (2014 Ed.)

N. Consent

Consent to the action of the defendant is germane in several different situations in criminal law. Voluntary consent to an act of sexual intercourse would preclude conviction in a traditional rape case, State v. Whitener, 228 S.C. 244, 89 S.E.2d 701 (1955), cert. denied, 350 U.S. 861, and under the criminal sexual assault statute. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 16-3-651-654 (2003 and Supp. 2012). Cf. State v. Cox, 274 S.C. 624, 266 S.E.2d 784 (1980). Just as consent to the act of sexual intercourse would preclude conviction of rape or criminal sexual conduct, consent to other touching of a sexual nature would preclude a conviction of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. State v. Henderson, 226 S.C. 227, 84 S.E.2d 626 (1954).

Consent is irrelevant in a statutory rape case...