The Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed a man’s conviction of Class D felony sexual battery because the defendant’s actions don’t qualify for sexual battery under Indiana statute. It ordered the man be convicted of Class B misdemeanor battery.

In Kevin B. Perry v. State of Indiana, No. 30A01-1107-CR-327, Kevin Perry invited his teenage son’s girlfriend and two of her friends over to his house while his son wasn’t there. He gave them alcohol and later got into bed with his son’s girlfriend. Without her consent, he inserted his fingers into her vagina and rubbed his penis on her buttocks. He was charged and convicted of Class D felony sexual battery.

Although the evidence can support a battery conviction, it can’t support one for sexual battery because the evidence doesn’t show that the girlfriend was compelled to submit to the touching by force or imminent threat of force, wrote Judge John Baker.

“We do not mean for our holding and reasoning in this case to be construed as approval for Perry’s actions. Indeed, we find the fact that he invited underage girls to his house, furnished them with alcoholic beverages, and then invasively touched one of them to be quite repulsive,” he wrote.

Because the evidence supports the Class B misdemeanor battery conviction, the judges ordered the trial court to enter the conviction as the misdemeanor and sentence Perry to 180 days incarcerated with 90 days suspended.