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FLORIDA SEX CRIMES ATTORNEY

THE PROCESS

The following is an example of how the legal process works in cases dealing with sex related charges. These types of charges usually start from an accusation. The accusation may come from a family member or someone close to you. At first you may find the charge or accusation ridiculous, you may find it very upsetting. Whatever you do take it seriously. Many people have found themselves being convicted of such a crime because they believed that no one was going to convict them on any accusations without having hard evidence. This is simply not the case. These charges lend themselves to people being controlled by their emotions and convicting people on accusations alone. The first thing you want to do is stay calm. The second thing you want to do is begin to seek counsel from a licensed attorney that handles such cases. This is very important.

These cases are handled much different than other types of criminal cases. You then will begin to act as if you are getting charged. You under no circumstance will speak to the police. When looking at a charge like this you must understand that the police are not your friend. In most cases they will assume you did it and begin to start obtaining evidence against you. Remember about the emotion, they think they have someone that might have hurt kids. They will be doing everything with that assumption. They will say things to you like “just be honest with us and let it of your chess”. If you admit to us what happened the healing process can begin”. All these statements will be made with one thing in mind. To gather evidence against you. Most police will just assume you are guilty with only an accusation.

You must fight your instincts to tell your side of story. This will be done through your lawyer. One of the techniques the police use is to try to get you to say something they could use by telling you “if you don’t have anything to hide why don’t you want talk”. Let talk then we will make our decision if you are going to be arrested. It is important that you remember In these cases THE POLICE ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND. I put this in capital letters to make my point. There is absolutely no exception. If you look for that exception or think you are it you may find yourself in prison for trusting that they will listen to you. The police are there to make their case. The only thing you must think about doing is getting proper legal advise and picking a criminal lawyer that is familiar with these types of cases. As I go through this process I will point out to you where these cases are different then other criminal cases and how they should be handled differently.

One of the ways to begin the process of picking the right lawyer is surfing the internet. This will allow you to go through their websites and ask them questions. More important you could educate yourself before you start asking the attorneys questions. You must have a good feel for this criminal attorney. Remember the way he handles the case could determine whether you go to jail or not. Another thing that could help you in picking your lawyer is to have professional evaluate them for you, This could mean other people in the field or you could even go as far as hiring another attorney to evaluate the lawyer you like or presently have. The attorney link on our website will have a series of characteristic your lawyer should have if he is to represent you or that person close to you.

After you have picked your criminal lawyer continue to educate yourself. The attorney may tell you not to do that and leave it to them. Don’t fall into this trap. It is your life and I am not a big believer that ignorance helps anyone. You will only get one chance to defend yourself and you don’t want to be in prison wondering what you could have done. Be very concerned about any lawyer that doesn’t want you to help in your criminal defense. Be aggressive in fighting your case. This is something that is more necessary in these types of cases because you are fighting the emotional reactions of the people handle your case. If you get arrested remember to keep your mouth shut. It’s a hard fact for most people to accept that in these types of cases most people will think you are guilty so whether you like it or not, you can’t give them a chance to hurt you. Another reality is that you cannot be on the defensive like it was another case.

When I talk about not being on the defensive I mean that the individual must be aggressive in their defense. This means planning every part of your criminal defense case. You must stay on top of your case. In planning your case you will have to deal with all kinds of emotion attacking you. You will fight depression and all kind of horrible thought. This is why you will have to find peace within yourself. These types of cases usually come done to credibility. Do not fool yourself if the jury believes your accuser there is a good chance you will be going to jail. So you begin your defense. In Florida an individual is either charged with a crime by information or indictment. For the purpose of this process we will go with an information. An information is a document that outlines the charges against the person. When the state decides to charge someone they will file the information. I suggest you read the charges and get a copy of the statute that the person is being charged with and a copy of the jury instructions for that particular charge. Remember we are preparing as if we were going to trial. Always keep a file of everything going on.

Once charged you will go to what is called an arraignment. This is where the court will read the charges against you. At that point the court will ask you what you plead. You will say guilty, not guilty or no contest. If you have an attorney he or she will file a plea of not guilty and arraignment will be waived.. This is when you begin the process called discovery. This is when the state shows you the evidence they have against you. You will be able to file pre trial motions to attack the validity of the charge. In order to see the pretrial motions that you should click the pre-trial motions trial motions sections. You will then consider hiring an expert to attack the credibility of the accusers story. This should not be done solely on cross by the attorney no matter how good he is. In my experience an expert attacking the accusers story is extremely valuable for you defense. To look at the types of experts you should consider click “The experts” section.

Most of the time the accuser says that they can’t remember exact times and dates. As strange as that sounds the system permits the state to do it in these types of cases. For this reason the very first motion that I usually prepare is a Motion for Particulars. This motion will make the state justify or narrow the time period of the allegations. Again this is one in a series of motions. The topic of what motions will be filed should be discussed pretty fast. This along with the depositions of the state witness. One the very first things I look at is the medical examination of the accuser. This will tell you a lot. In many cases the accuser will state that there was vaginal and anal penetration but there is no evidence of it in the exam. The state’s doctors usually try to get around this by stating that the evidence was inconclusive. Understand that the state’s witness will always answer the questions in two ways. The first is that there was penetration or the second which states that the exam was inconclusive. I have not scene the states’ witness say anything in favor of the accused. Remember they are not neutral as they claim they are on the states side and are there to help them convict you.

When they come in with that attitude a prepared lawyer can discredit them on cross. For example they will conclude and say that there professional opinion is that which the state wants them to say. When crossing challenge there conclusions. Ask them if they could have concluded something different from fact. Ask them if their conclusion was affected by the state hiring them. Ask them if they have ever concluded in favor of the accused. Try to educate yourself in the area that the expert is giving their opinion. But no matter how good your cross is you should put on an expert to refute the accusers story. This will help you more then twenty great cross examinations. Now once the depositions are taken and all the motions are heard then you will entertain the plea offers by the state. This section is very different then other charges because the accused in this type of case will more then likely be offered a plea that will include them being designated a sexual predator. This means they will be put on a list, They will not be able to live in certain areas the rest of their lives. The will be subject to The Jimmy Rice Act or the Jessica Lungford Act. This is something that lawyers not experienced with these types of charges fail to adequately warn their clients. In many cases clients have said that it is actually worse then prison and have stated that they would not have taken a plea if they would have known. What it entailed.

So then you decide you don’t want any deal you want to go to trial and clear your name. Ok this is a very brave decision. The first part of the trial is to picking a jury. This is probably the most important part of the trial because you are picking your audience. To get information and help click Jury Selection. The jury selection section will have questions that you could ask the panel in order to insure you pick an appropriate jury. Again each section of the trial is broken down into sections in this website so you could click the section and get a more detailed idea of the section. Once the jury is picked you are ready to start the trial. The first part is opening statement. Opening statement is where the state and the defense both sides tell the jury what they believe the evidence will show. What I do is begin the attack at that point. The state goes first after they are done then I start by telling the jury to remember what they are promising to prove to you., because the evidence they present will not do show you anything they just claim. You start to discredit both the accuser and the state for bringing the case.

After both sides finish their opening statement will go forward with their case. They must now prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The state will put on their witnesses. The one that usually goes first is the accuser. The accuser story has to be attacked. Well the most effective way to do this is by going through every detail. Ask for details when questioning. Go through it step by step. This usually starts to bring up the inconsistencies. When questing you will have to ask for details as to the accusation. This must be done even with the smallest detail. It may feel uncomfortable but you must highlight any inconsistency. When they put on the person that gave the exam point out they do all testimony for state. When crossing police you must point ut how they question in a manner that assumed that the person had committed the act. For more detail on this click on Crossing State Witnesses. Once this is done the state will rest and will have to put on the defense case.

In these types of cases it is important that the defense put on an expert to refute the conclusions of the states witness. The expert will be a very aggressive step in your case and it will help you. If you don’t call the expert they will have only heard from them. You have to keep in mind that the jury will listen to expert if they don’t have anyone one else to listen to, no matter how good the cross examination was. Once you put on your expert or any alibi witnesses you will have to decide if the accused is going to take the stand. I will give you my take on this and why. I always ask in jury selection if they have to hear from my client in these cases they almost always say yes even when they are told that the client has a right to not testify. It seem that if they don’t defend themselves the jury holds it against them. Most defense attorney’s will tell you not to testify and not to take stand. This is very text book advise but it is something that could really hurt the accused in this case. The accused must take the stand. The fears that both the accused and attorney have can be alleviated by going over the questions and practice cross examination. I believe this will go along way to proving the persons innocense. The accused must always remember that even though the state has the burden of proof these cases must be taken on like there is a presumption of guilt,

After both sides put on their cases the court will ask if either side has any motions and the defense will make theirs. Then the state and defense will make their closing arguments. For more detail on how to prepare the closing argument click the section Closing Arguments. This is a run through of the process this was done to give you an overview. The different sections are separated if you want more detail information. If you want you could reach out to us for a free consultation on the Contact Us . Let out experience and knowledge work for you.