Sec. 53a-61a. Assault of an elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant or mentally retarded person in the third degree: Class A misdemeanor: One year not suspendable.
Sec. 53a-61a. Assault of an elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant or mentally retarded person in the third degree: Class A misdemeanor: One year not suspendable. (a) A person is guilty of assault of an elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant or
mentally retarded person in the third degree when such person commits assault in the
third degree under section 53a-61 and (1) the victim of such assault has attained at least
sixty years of age, is blind or physically disabled, as defined in section 1-1f, or is pregnant, or (2) the victim of such assault is a person with mental retardation, as defined in
section 1-1g, and the actor is not a person with mental retardation.
(b) No person shall be found guilty of assault in the third degree and assault of an
elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant or mentally retarded person in the third degree upon
the same incident of assault but such person may be charged and prosecuted for both
such offenses upon the same information.
(c) In any prosecution for an offense under this section based on the victim being
pregnant it shall be an affirmative defense that the actor, at the time such actor engaged
in the conduct constituting the offense, did not know the victim was pregnant. In any
prosecution for an offense under this section based on the victim being a person with
mental retardation, it shall be an affirmative defense that the actor, at the time such actor
engaged in the conduct constituting the offense, did not know the victim was a person
with mental retardation.
(d) Assault of an elderly, blind, disabled, pregnant or mentally retarded person in
the third degree is a class A misdemeanor and any person found guilty under this section
shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one year which shall not be suspended
or reduced.
(P.A. 77-422, S. 4; P.A. 92-260, S. 31; P.A. 99-122, S. 4; 99-186, S. 17.)
History: P.A. 92-260 amended Subsec. (c) by adding provision re one-year mandatory nonsuspendable sentence to
reflect preexisting sentencing requirement of Sec. 53a-36(1); P.A. 99-122 changed the name of the offense from "assault
of a victim sixty or older in the third degree" to "assault of an elderly, blind, disabled or mentally retarded person in the
third degree", where appearing, added Subsec. (a)(2) to include within the offense an assault where the victim is a person
with mental retardation and the actor is not a person with mental retardation, and added new Subsec. (c) to establish an
affirmative defense in a prosecution based on the victim being a person with mental retardation that the actor did not know
the victim was a person with mental retardation, relettering former Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d); P.A. 99-186 changed the
name of the offense from "assault of a victim sixty or older in the third degree" to "assault of an elderly, blind, disabled
or pregnant person in the third degree" where appearing, amended Subsec. (a) to include within the offense an assault
where the victim is pregnant and added new Subsec. (c) to establish an affirmative defense in a prosecution based on the
victim being pregnant that the actor did not know the victim was pregnant, relettering former Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d);
(Revisor's note: In 2005, the Revisors recodified Subsec. (c) to reflect the separate affirmative defenses established by
P.A. 99-122 and P.A. 99-186).
See Sec. 53a-36 re mandatory nonsuspendable sentence.
See Secs. 53a-321 to 53a-323, inclusive, re abuse of elderly, blind, disabled or mentally retarded person.
Court, in sentencing a defendant convicted under this section, must impose a one-year mandatory nonsuspendable term
of imprisonment and does not have option of imposing a fine or a sentence of unconditional discharge. 180 C. 557.
Cited. 5 CA 590. Cited. 13 CA 420. Cited. 16 CA 318. Cited. 21 CA 248. Cited. 29 CA 524. Cited. 31 CA 312. Cited.
32 CA 178.
Subsec. (a):
Cited. 12 CA 239.
Subsec. (b):
Cited. 216 C. 282.