When Is It Feasible To Take A California Sex Crime Case To Trial?
It is feasible to take a sex crime case to trial when you have a good chance of winning. You don't want to take a sex crime case to trial if you're not going to win it or you don't have a good chance to win it because the consequences can be devastating.
In determining whether or not you should take the case to trial, you want to sit down with a sex crime defense attorney who's been practicing for a long time, who's taken a lot of these cases to trial, and who sees what juries look at and how juries decide these types of cases matching that with the facts of your case.
When you sit down with that attorney, you want to be honest with them and give them all the information necessary to defend you. Please pretend for a minute that you are the prosecutor or the policeman and provide them with the information from that frame of reference.
This way, they are prepared to defend you properly and tell you what they feel might happen based on their prior experience and having defended these cases before a jury.
How A Sex Crime Will Affect Your Life
Unfortunately, when somebody is charged with a sex crime, the authorities will come in. If it's a sex crime that involves a minor and that person has minor children, a lot of times, they will get child services involved. You will be in jeopardy of losing your kids and being sent to the Monterey Child Court, which is the child court that handles matters in LA County.
Your job would only be affected if your job found out about it or if your job somehow involved circumstances that would make it relevant that they should know that you're being charged with a sex crime. Under some circumstances, I do see the police alerting a job that they feel needs to know to protect the public from a person's conduct.
While the case is pending, you want to get an attorney who can look out for these issues and be ready to defend you not just in court but also with the peripheral issues that can sometimes come along with a sex crime case in LA County.
Is A No-Contact Order Automatically Placed In A Sex Crime Case?
Over the past 25 years of handling sex crime cases, if somebody is charged with a sex crime, whoever the alleged victim is, in most cases, the prosecutors will request that the judge order a protective order.
That protective order is very broad and typically encompasses contacting the person face-to-face, over the phone, at their job, and even having a third-party contact on your behalf.
If you do any of those things during the pendency of the case and the protective order in place, you will not only be subject to violating the terms of your bail or release but also be subject to being prosecuted for another crime.
A protective order will be put in place, and you want to talk to your attorney about that if you feel that the other party may do something to try and cause you to violate that. There is a strategy that can be employed to prevent that.
Are People Generally Aware They Are Being Investigated For A Sex Crime?
About half of people are aware that they are being investigated for a sex crime. These people are called, and the investigators want to talk to them or show up at their house. The best scenario would be not to speak to them.
Even if the person is innocent, they shouldn't talk to them because, often, things can be misinterpreted and misconstrued, people can be bullied or yelled at, and then the police can claim that they said something that ultimately ended up incriminating them.
In the other half of the cases, the person doesn't know they are being investigated. A lot of times, what they'll do in these cases is something called a pre-text phone call, where the victim or the alleged victim will call the person and start asking them questions about the alleged sexual conduct, accusing them of the crime.
The police will be on the other line listening and tape-recording, and then they will try and use that evidence later.
In either of these circumstances, if you suspect you might be being investigated for a sex crime, you should consult a criminal defense attorney before filing. This will ensure that your attorney knows what's happening and can properly advise you on dealing with the authorities.
They can even contact the authorities on your behalf and let them know that you are represented. They will only answer questions if your attorney is present.
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