Sex Crimes

Rape charges can involve complex and highly sensitive interpersonal issues between defendant and alleged victim.  As a result, defendants facing these charges must have highly experienced and effective counsel.  Typically the charge involves two types of cases.  First, they can involve situations wherein the alleged victim knows the defendant (perhaps a date or a lover).  It is in these cases where the issue of false or exaggerated accusations comes into play.  And second, they can involve situations wherein the crimes were committed by a stranger, and as a result, the issue of eyewitness identification is usually the key.

In the acquaintance type case, an effective attorney will focus on the motive of the accuser.  Whether the motive is a rejected lover or a situation involving a debate on whether consent occurred or alcohol induced, false accusations abound.  Because these cases normally involve a female victim, sympathetic prosecutors can be prone to letting that sympathy cloud their assessment of the facts.   

To successfully defend these cases you must shed light on the motivation for the accusation.  This is done through careful interview, investigation, and analysis.  Once you have found that motivation you must conduct further investigation of the family, friends, and other people in the alleged victim’s circle of acquaintances.  Many of the alleged victims have emotional disorders that need exploration. What might seem like a wild young lady to a young man may actually be a serious personality disorder with features of inability to handle rejection and uncontrollable rage.  You will need a skilled attorney to develop these theories and utilize them effectively during your case.

Medical evidence is also a problem in rape charges.  At the onset of almost all rape investigations, the alleged victim is examined by a S.A.R.T. (Sexual Assault Response Team) nurse.  These “nurses” will almost always find something in the vaginal area they will claim is evidence of non-consensual sex.  However, they are frequently wrong in their opinions and can be effectively cross-examined if your attorney is well versed in the medical and legal issues involved in this particular problem.  Your attorney should know the best medical experts that will carefully review your case and prepare your attorney for a legal attack on the S.A.R.T. nurse’s opinion.

Rape cases can often involve situations where a young man honestly misunderstood a situation or was trying to break up with the alleged victim only to be faced with vengeful false accusations.    And in these cases, the only thing separating the defendant from a lengthy prison sentence is a skilled trial attorney and a long emotional trial.  Where the case involves the issue of eyewitness, there is usually no issue about whether the crime actually occurred.  Instead, the focus is on whether the defendant is the person responsible.  In these cases, identification becomes paramount and representation by an attorney with extensive experience in all the factors that go into eyewitness identification is essential. Those factors include: the impact of the duration of view, lighting, emotion, impediments, and other factors.

In most cases involving this issue, extensive knowledge of the law is essential in order to convince to the judge to give appropriate jury instructions.  Further, your attorney must be able to recognize when intricate investigation, photographs, videotaping, or in-court experiments are necessary.  And on rare occasions, even where it might be beneficial to take the jury to the scene at the time of the incident so that they can judge for themselves as to the accuracy of the witnesses ability to perceive what has been described.