United States v. Hawkins
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
603 F. App’x 239 (2015)
- Written by Heather Whittemore, JD
Facts
Ruel Hawkins (defendant), a 54-year-old man, was exercising with his 18-year-old niece on an army base when he began performing oral sex on her. Hawkins’s niece jumped up, ran away, and flagged down a driver, telling him that her uncle had molested her. Hawkins was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 2244(b), which prohibited anyone on federal property from knowingly engaging in sexual contact with someone without her consent. At a bench trial, Hawkins testified that he had had his niece’s consent to make sexual contact with her. The district court found Hawkins guilty of violating § 2244(b). In a posttrial motion, Hawkins argued that the government (plaintiff) was required to prove that he had knowingly lacked his niece’s consent. The district court denied Hawkins’s appeal without deciding whether the statute contained the purported mens rea requirement, holding that the evidence supported a finding that Hawkins had known he lacked his niece’s consent. Hawkins appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
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