Criminal offenses attract serious penalties, including jail sentences spanning years and deportation for non-citizens. Subsequently, you must understand the nature and definition of the torture offense in California. The information is relevant, especially after your arrest. It enables you to consult an experienced criminal defense attorney who will help you prepare your defense. By learning about the crime definition, you can also anticipate the prosecutor’s arguments to increase chances of a positive case outcome.
At Los Angeles Criminal Lawyer, you will work with some of the best attorneys with years of experience in criminal defense. Their role in handling your case extends to supporting and advising beyond the substantial case matters. For example, you can rely on your attorney to attempt negotiations with the prosecutor. Doing so may reduce the chances of the case going into full trial mode. With the team’s support, you will receive continuous updates about the progress of your case to understand what to expect in subsequent procedures.
The Nature of Torture as a Crime
Committing torture is an offense recognized under Section 206 of the California Penal Code. It involves malicious actions that inflict grievous bodily harm on the victim for criminal reasons. The offense falls under the violent crimes category and is a felony in California. Due to this, any arrested suspect risks facing serious penalties if found guilty of the crime, including life sentences.
An accusation involves a criminal investigation and charging after the booking process. Afterwards, a prosecutor takes over the case to attempt to prove your involvement in all elements of the crime. When working on your case, the prosecutor may follow the alleged unlawful conduct through one act or a series of acts over time. They do this depending on the prevailing case circumstances, as each arrested suspect has different approaches when committing torture.
Elements of the Crime for the Prosecutor to Prove
During the trial process, the prosecutor should further elaborate on the nature of the crime by handling all criminal elements. Based on their analysis, you can better understand what torture as an offense entails in California. The following are the two main elements linked to a torture crime:
You Caused Serious Bodily Harm to the Victim
Firstly, the prosecutor must prove that you caused serious bodily harm to a third party. "Serious bodily harm" refers to any significant injury the victim sustains. In California courts, judges have accepted broken bones, severe burns, and body disfigurement as signs of serious bodily harm. Further, the court may accommodate additional symptoms depending on the circumstances of the case.
Despite the need to prove that you caused significant harm to the victim, the case may proceed even if the victim was not in pain from your actions. The bottom line for the prosecutor is to demonstrate that you acted with the intent to inflict harm or for sadistic reasons.
You Intended to Cause Serious Harm for Criminal Purposes
Secondly, the prosecutor must demonstrate the presence of criminal intention when inflicting harm on the victim. The primary element to prove is that you aimed to promote revenge, extortion, or undue influence on the victim’s actions. If you intended to extort the victim, the prosecutor must show that you wanted the person’s property, access to resources, or opportunities without their approval.
The aggressive nature of your actions makes it necessary for the prosecutor to prove that you used fear or force tactics to obtain the victim’s consent. To do this, the prosecution team must demonstrate the specific tactics you relied on to obtain the information or approval you wanted.
Defenses for Committing Torture
After the prosecutor concludes on their presentation, you can counter what they say and present your own evidence during the defense hearing. Since this is your chance to persuade the judge and jury of your innocence, you should prepare for it long before the scheduled session.
Among the best ways to prepare a strong defense is by recounting all relevant facts about your case and comparing your findings to the prosecutor’s presentation. In doing this, you ensure their arguments are truthful and that they do not exaggerate or introduce false narratives.
Also, consulting your attorney on the best evidentiary sources to introduce is important. Their professional input will guide you on the most effective strategy to apply. This is because your goal is to remain as credible and persuasive as possible before the judge and jury. Your defense lawyer will advise you that not all defenses apply to your case, so you want to choose the most suitable from the arguments discussed below.
The defenses applicable to a torture charge include:
You Acted in Self-Defense
Firstly, you can raise a counterargument to show that your actions were for self-defense and not for a malicious or sadistic purpose. The essence of self-defense as a counterargument to the charges is that it applies to justify violent actions, despite the usual illegal aspect they have. An exception from legal liability applies in self-defense cases because you are entitled to protect your personhood from any apparent danger.
Depending on your case facts, self-defense can apply as a legal defense, increasing the possibility of an acquittal or a significant sentence reduction. However, you should note that the defense applies when you act within the proper scope of self-defense.
Legal principles have developed over the years to determine a reasonable action in self-defense. Based on legal principles, an accused must meet three requirements for the defense to succeed in court.
Firstly, you must have been in imminent danger, meaning that you genuinely believed to be in serious harm that required you to act promptly. Your belief in danger can arise from the circumstances you faced, resulting in your retaliation. For example, if someone was following you and showed threats of violence, you may have decided to act fast and engage in actions similar to those falling under torture crimes.
Imminent danger also means you have limited alternatives to protect yourself, resulting in your need for self-defense. The lack of choice may arise from an entrapment, particularly when you cannot raise the alarm to seek help. With the only resort being to engage in self-defense, the court may consider your presentation and justifications under the circumstances.
Secondly, you should have used reasonable force to retaliate against the perceived perpetrator in self-defense. Under this requirement, the court must establish whether you used proportionate force to protect yourself, which is the standard for anyone facing danger. Excessive force can transform your actions into an attack, justifying the charges against you.
For example, if the person you believed to have caused you harm was carrying a baseball club and yet you retaliated using a sharp knife, your self-defense actions may be unacceptable. The primary reason for the need to use proportionate force is to establish that you did not act out of malice. Hence, the presiding judge will be keen to assess whether the methods you used as self-defense were justified under the circumstances, or if you are answerable to torture charges.
Lastly, the force you use must be helpful in protecting yourself from the source of harm. This ties in with the need to use force as a last resort. If you can spot an escape plan to avoid using violent means in self-defense, the court expects you to use it.
However, you can present your defense and justify using force due to a lack of alternatives. If you can present sufficient evidence to support your claims, the judge and jury may consider your position and issue orders accordingly. For better credibility and persuasion, your defense attorney should ensure that all evidentiary sources are relevant to your case.
You Face False Accusations
False criminal accusations are common, particularly if the investigation team fails to make proper findings and links to the arrested suspects. Additionally, you may face a false charge due to a mistake of fact or identity on the investigators’ side, causing incorrect case progression.
If you intend to rely on this defense, you should have sufficient evidence to show that you are not the correct person and that another accused person should be held accountable. This calls for proper defense planning with your criminal defense attorney’s help.
The primary goal should be to show that you were absent at the crime scene. Alternatively, you should prove that your identity completely differs from the person who should face charges for the offense. If you opt for the first option, you must produce an alibi.
Alibis are accounts of your whereabouts presented in court to prove that you could not have been at the reported crime scene at the time of the crime. They are important to your defense because they can lead to an acquittal, if properly presented. Your defense lawyer should therefore work to establish that you were at the alternative location as a defense.
For example, if you claim to have been at work and not at the crime scene, you can call on witnesses to testify to this effect to help prove your case. Alternatively, you can use sources like surveillance footage, login systems, and any other option to help you support your alibi.
If your defense strategy is to demonstrate that you faced false accusations due to mistaken identity, you can work with them to demonstrate the incorrect identity problem. You can use your ID, social security documents, and other important files.
Further, you can present information about the offender if you know their identity and whereabouts to assist the investigation team with their arrest and arraignment in court. In preparing these defenses, the court expects you to raise the issue as early as possible to ensure the continuity of a fair trial.
You Acted Out of Insanity
Committing offenses during a temporary episode of insanity may excuse your actions, moving the court to reduce your sentence or acquit you completely. Usually, cases involving suspects who acted out of insanity cannot run the full trial course because the party was not in their right mind. Holding them accountable for actions they did not commit consciously may not be the best solution.
When preparing for this defense, you should note the two main elements the court expects to see in your defense argument. Firstly, you must have acted without knowing the nature of your actions, meaning that you were unaware of their effects on the other party.
To demonstrate this, you can rely on witness testimonies and statements that show your inability to reason, remember, or analyze your actions at the time in question. You may also request a psychiatric report that covers the time of your alleged involvement in torturing the victim. If the report demonstrates that you were temporarily incapable of understanding what you were doing, the presiding judge may issue a lenient sentence order.
Secondly, you must demonstrate that your mind was highly disoriented, making you incapable of understanding that your actions were wrong. The essence is to show that even if you understood the type of actions you participated in, the temporary insanity limited your reasoning. Your inability to distinguish right from wrong can help you avoid criminal penalties, but only if you justify your arguments with relevant evidence.
Similar to the first element to prove, you must demonstrate your temporary episode of insanity through a psychiatric analysis, witness statements, surveillance footage, or any other useful evidentiary sources to justify your actions. Your criminal defense lawyer will guide you on the most appropriate approach to arguing out the defense to ensure it promotes a positive case outcome.
You Faced Police Misconduct
Police misconduct can sometimes cause unlawful arrests or forced confessions, among other elements of an unfair criminal trial process. If your case involves police misconduct, you will have some rights infringed, resulting in improper questioning during investigations. For example, if the officers in charge used coercion to make you confess to committing torture, they will have violated the appropriate criminal investigation procedure.
Additionally, police misconduct may involve improper evidence modification to frame you as the primary offender, even where alternative conclusions are possible. These include adjusting arrest reports, changing names and identities to match yours, and creating false narratives to target you as the offender. Upon identifying any elements of police misconduct in your case, inform your attorney as soon as possible for proper defense development.
You Did Not Act with a Criminal Purpose
To counter the prosecutor’s accusations that you acted with criminal or malicious intent, you can raise the defense that you acted for a valid reason. For example, if you inflicted bodily harm on someone in order to save their life, you can present this factor in court and elaborate on the context.
Using a snake bite case study, you may have cut the alleged victim’s body part to prevent the poison from spreading. If you faced arrest before the police obtained context for your actions, you could raise the defense to justify what you did. Since every case presents different circumstances, consider adjusting the defense terms to better persuade the court of your innocence.
Penalties for Committing Torture
The California Penal Code classifies torture as a felony offense involving malicious intentions to inflict pain on the victim. Additionally, since most torture charges may cause serious injuries or even death to the victim, the crime attracts a life sentence penalty. The presiding judge can then decide whether to include a parole option, but they are not obligated to do so.
Under the United States Torture Act, the offense attracts a sentence of up to twenty years in state prison. Adjustments to the sentence are discretionary, and the presiding judge may assess the case facts to determine the best adjustment. An accused may sometimes receive a sentence reduction, provided the case facts reveal mitigation factors. Nonetheless, many accused persons still risk facing the maximum twenty-year penalty.
A US non-citizen may face additional repercussions, including deportation and being marked as inadmissible. Based on this, you lose your right to retain residency in the country and to return in the future based on the convictions you face. Changing this status can be difficult, resulting in potential disadvantages like losing access to your loved ones and opportunities you previously had as a US citizen.
Contact a Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
When you or a loved one faces arrest on torture charges, you must act as soon as possible to obtain relevant information about the charge. An excellent starting point is requesting criminal defense services from a skilled and reliable team. Their role is to help you navigate the trial process and increase your chances of receiving a favorable outcome. Your defense lawyer should also provide insights on the best strategy when preparing counterarguments.
At Los Angeles Criminal Lawyer, we dedicate our services to providing quality criminal defense services to help navigate your case. We are also ready to help conduct in-depth research on your matter, identify potential gaps in the prosecutor’s case, and obtain relevant sources. Thanks to our years of practice in criminal law, you can count on us to deliver excellent legal services to help you understand the crime of torture and how to fight the charges. For more information, call us today at 310-502-1314.
