United States v. Apilado

In this case we were called upon to decide whether the affirmative defense of mistake of fact in an attempted rape case requires an “honest and reasonable” or merely an “honest” belief by an accused that the victim consented to his actions. In our original, opinion dated 12 September 1991 we concluded that the former standard applies. I am not persuaded that the recent decision of the court in United States v. Langley alters the correct analysis we applied to the facts of this case in our original opinion.

I

The incident that resulted in charges against the appellant for conspiracy to commit…