People v. Warren case brief

 

People v. Warren: D and victim have a conversation in the park where he says to her, “this will only take a minute, my girlfriend doesn’t meet my needs.” The court, in analyzing her fear, say she didn’t scream, fight back so no rape (even though there is no law for resisting). Why not on the court’s reasoning? There is a question of communication to the D. (Have you done what you needed to do to communicate to D that you did not want to have sex with him?)

1. If the court is worried about her communicating – what are they doing to the statute?
   1. The court is reading in a mens rea requirement!! A lot of jurisdictions that have these force or threat of force statutes have a strict liability rule for rape. They may not mean it though – they may still be worried about what he knows or what he thinks.
   2. Another reason that courts want her to communicate is that the she needs to do something to communicate to the court or the jury that she didn’t want this. No reasonable jury would believe that she didn’t want it if she does nothing. But could a reasonable jury find that she was afraid if she didn’t resist?
      1. The Reasonableness Standard:

1. Should she get to say I was afraid of him (subjective) or does she have to prove that a reasonable person would be afraid (objective)? But assault doesn’t work that way and no other crime works that way – you’re screwed up perception does not count!!

1. The Reasonable Woman Standard?
   1. Do scared reasonable woman really resist? Maybe freezing is just as normal a reaction then resisting. Should the standard be what a reasonable woman would do?
2. The Reasonable Man Standard?
   1. Is it insulting to say that men would side with Warren under a reasonable man standard?

2. Complications of Adding Mens Rea: Once you shift the focus to him for logical reasons, you weigh in on whether you are looking at consent from the standpoint of a woman or a man.
   1. Ex: Rusk Case: She can be said to have an unreasonable fear (taking of keys potentially playful sexual move) and he only realizes she is afraid when she makes the killing comment.