Criminal Defense Lawyer
For people who have been accused of a sex crime, including rape, sexual assault, child molestation, possession of child pornography, or other sexually motivated crimes, such accusations can wind up ruining their lives. They may never have a more stressful experience than dealing with these types of allegations. If you’ve been accused of a sex crime, what should you do in order to reduce your stress and mitigate the damages done by the allegation?
- Don’t talk to the police.
Often, the first time that a person learns that they have been accused of a sex crime is when they are contacted by law enforcement who wants to conduct an interview about the accusations. Many times, the police won’t even tell you specifically what the allegations are before you come in for an interview. This is because they want to use every advantage they have in order to trap you into a statement that will be harmful to you, even in the event that you are protesting your innocence. You should never submit to an interrogation with the police regarding allegations of a sex crime.
The police also may ask you to take a polygraph examination, or lie detector test. You should decline to take this test. The fact that you declined to take the test cannot be used against you in court, and the police merely use these tests as interrogation tools. They don’t want to utilize these tests in order to clear you.
- Don’t try to contact the accuser.
Do not, under any circumstances, try to contact the accuser. This will simply create more negative evidence against you, and look like you are trying to intimidate the government’s main witness. Once you hire a lawyer, the lawyer can always attempt to interview the accuser, or hire a private investigator to try to interview the accuser. If there is information out there that you need to defend yourself, let your lawyer handle conducting the investigation to obtain that information.
- Hire a lawyer.
Convictions for sex crimes have significant, life-long consequences. This is not something that you want to handle on your own, at any stage. It is important that you hire a sexual assault lawyer trusts as soon as possible after learning of allegations against you. Your lawyer can help you competently take steps to defend yourself, and can try to prevent consequences like a felony conviction, placement on the sex-offender registry, and incarceration.
- Provide your lawyer with information.
If you have information that would have either a positive or negative impact on the case, tell your lawyer about it. Helpful information may lead to more helpful information, and you want your lawyer to be able to conduct a thorough investigation. Lawyers can handle negative information, but they will do a better job of dealing with it if they know about that negative information in advance. Be honest with them, and give them all of the information and evidence you possess.
