BRIEF ON BEHALF OF RILEY JACOBS, DEFENDANT

DAsia Vaden Esq., 000000

I.

Statement of the Issue

Does a person who witnesses a group sexual activity but didn't

know what was going on and only looked over once and thought the
victim was just having fun with different men and could not call the
police fail to report a felony?
II.

Statement of Facts

Riley is a sophomore in college at SDSU and majoring in Biochemistry.

Riley was ready to have fun and not worry about school work so her
friends went to Pacific Beach for a fun spring break. While no school
for a week her and her friends were having a good time while having
fun Riley noticed the victim engaged in sexual activities with
multiple people. Therefore, the victim getting sexually assaulted did
not seem out of place during spring break because many people are
engaging in sexual activities.
III.

Legal Analysis
The victim was assaulted while near Riley and her friends.
Riley glanced once at their actions but didn't observe since
she thought that they were just doing what everyone else was
doing at PB, which was having sex and participating in other
sexual games since Riley was surrounded by those things she
became more comfortable with and thought it was normal.
The california law states A person commits an offense if
the person:
1) observes the commission of a felony under circumstances
in which a reasonable person would believe that an offense
had been committed in which serious bodily injury or death
may have resulted; and

2) fails to immediately report the commission of the

offense to a peace officer or law enforcement agency under
circumstances in which:
A) a reasonable person would believe that the commission
of the offense had not been reported; and
B) the person could immediately report the commission of
the offense

without placing himself or herself in danger

of suffering serious bodily injury or death.

b) An offense under this section is a Class A felony with
punishment of fines up to $5,000 and up to 2 years
imprisonment.
In this case Riley jacobs thought multiple people had
already reported the crime due the fact since everyone at
had their phones out and were using them to recode and
take pictures (Trial Exhibit #4-P 2-4). Public sexual
activity is normal to see at spring break (Trial exhibit
#6-P. 2) so for Riley to see the rape happening she
thought it looked like regular sex so she wasnt even
aware a crime was happening since sex is so common there.
The victim was assaulted near a large amount of people but
was 3 feet away from Riley and her friends (Trial exhibit
t6
#1-P. 1). Also since she had been drinking (Trial exhibit
#6-P. 1) she couldn't judge since impaired causing her to
not realize what was actually happening to the victim.
Riley thought the victim was having sexual intercourse
with different men. Riley grew use to seeing sex (Trial
Exhibit #4-P. 2-3) and sexual activity taking place at
pacific beach during spring break, therefore she did not
think anything the victim was getting sexual assulted
A. Riley did not immediately report] because she didn't know
what was going on
I: The issue is if Riley S. Jacobs failed to report the sexuall
assult
R:the rule in cal ifornia fail to report (a) person commits an
offense if the person:

(1)observes the commission of a felony under

circumstances in which a reasonable person would believe that an

offense had been committed in which serious bodily fluids or death

may have been resulted; (2)fails to immediately reports the
commission of the offense to a peace officer or law enforcement
agency under circumstances in which: (A)a reasonable person would
have believed that the commission of offense had not been reported;
and (B)the person could immediately reported the commision of the
offense without placing himself or herself in danger of suffering
serious bodily injury or death.

(b) An offense under this section is

a Class A felony with punishment of fines up to $5,000 and up to 2

years imprisonment.

In other words, this means if you see someone

commit a felony that could cause cause serious harm or death.

A: Riley was with h er friends having a good time. Riley seen sexual
activities so she got use to it since she seen it from left to right.
Riley seen the victim engaged with sexual contact. Riley thought she
was just having fun just like the others
C:
B. Riley did not fail to report because she thought the
victim was just having fun.
I: The issue is if Riley S. Jacobs failed to report the sexuall
assult
R:(A)a reasonable person would have believed that the
commission of offense had not been reported
A: Riley was with h er friends having a good time. Riley seen sexual
activities so she got use to it since she seen it from left to right.
Riley seen the victim engaged with sexual contact. Riley thought she
was just having fun just like the others but just with different men.
C. Riley did not immediately fail to report because she
thought the victim was doing what everyone else was doing
I: The court needs to decide if Riley took action in failing to
report.
R:(A)a reasonable person would have believed that the
commission of offense had not been reported
A: She was not paying attention to what they were doing she
thought they were doing what everyone else was doing and she didn't
want to judge the victim since she thought she was having sexual

contact with different men which was being engaged in sexual

activities
C: Therefore Riley should not be accused of immediately fail to
report since she didn't know what was going on.
D. Riley did not believed that the commission of offense had
not been reported because she doubted whether it was
sexual assault she didn't want to put herself in harm's
way
R: (B)the person could immediately reported the commision of the
offense without placing himself or herself in danger of suffering
serious bodily injury or death.
A: She doubted whether it was sexual assault she didn't want to
put herself in harm's way if she got caught for calling the police.
C: Therefore Riley should not be accused of (A)a reasonable
person would have believed that the commission of offense had
not been reported fail to report since she didn't want to get
involved by getting harmed.
E. COUNTER-ARGUMENT IRAC #1:
I: Riley Jacobs thought the victim was tired of having sexual
activities and was trying to take a brake.
R:California rule A,2 states fails to immediately report the
commission of the offense to a peace officer or law enforcement
agency under circumstances in which: a reasonable person would
believe that the commission of the offense without placing himself or
herself in danger of suffering serious bodily injury or death. This
means that Riley had not immediately reported the felony of rape
after witnessing it.
A: prosecution will most likely argue back saying that Riley seeing
not much movement from the victim would indicate that something was
wrong with the girl and not just casual sex. This argument is weak
because that night Riley was drunk and yes she was close to the

victim during the rape but a couple of her friends were standing in
the way so she couldn't see the rape happening clearly also since she
had been drinking she thought it was just regular sex and not rape
due to the fact her judgment had been impaired.
C:Prosecution will come back with Riley was unaware of the crime that
happening and was unsure if the victim was in trouble or engaged with
the sexual activities that was going on.
F. COUNTER-ARGUMENT IRAC #2:

I: Riley a responsible person certainly knew no one in her group of

friends had called the police to report the rape she just assumed
people around her would take care of it.
R: California rule A,2 states fails to immediately report the
commission of the offense to a peace officer or law enforcement
agency under circumstances in which: a reasonable person would
believe that the commission of the offense without placing himself or
herself in danger of suffering serious bodily injury or death. This
means that Riley had not immediately reported the felony of rape
after witnessing it.
A: The prosecution will likely argue that Riley did not see her
moving enough and that should have been a sign to call the police.
This is a very weak argument because Riley saw the girls hands moving
which indicates that the victim in Riley's perspective was still
conscious. Plus public sex is a common thing to see during spring
break so it would have been unreasonable for Riley Jacobs to call the
police because she was not aware a crime was even being committed.
C: Prosecution will have a hard time arguing this certain part of
this case due to the fact a reasonable person would have done the
same thing and would be unaware that a felony was taken place.
IV.

Conclusion

Therefore Riley should not be held against the Fail to Report a

Felony law.