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Over half of molestation-abuse accusations are false, yet this crime
has the highest conviction
rate of any felony charge. An accusation of molest can start in
a divorce/custody battle and lead to
juvenile and criminal cases. An anonymous accusation of abuse can
lead to the removal of your
children, to criminal charges, to separation from your spouse, and
ultimately to a prison sentence.
Your only defense is understanding the system you face and having
the most experienced legal representation possible.
It is very easy to be falsely accused
of child abuse or child molest, but it is exceptionally
difficult to be exonerated in court.
Even though 60% of molest or abuses charges are false, more of these
trials end in the wrongful
conviction of the innocent than any other type of criminal case.
Widespread media attention has
caused a state of hysteria in which people who are accused are presumed
guilty. This highly emotional charge tends to destroy the ability
of the system to handle such cases objectively.
One charge of molest or abuse can send a parent, professional or
any adult who deals with children to prison for up to eight years.
In most cases it is a mandatory sentence and, therefore, many innocent
people are now serving long prison sentences.
If you are accused of molest or abuse, you do not want to risk these
odds of being convicted for a crime you did not commit. That is
why it is critical that you understand what you face in this type
of case and what you must do to protect your freedom, your reputation,
and your family.
How can you win?
First and foremost, if you hope to win your case, you need experienced
legal representation in this highly specialized field. Your attorney
is the leader of a team of experts who engineer a comprehensive
and decisive plan of defense.
Brief Banks
Case law dealing with molest and abuse is complex. For that reason,
our firm has extensive brief banks of law on all important issues
that arise in these cases. This research allows us to present a
defense to the jury and judge that thoroughly explains the case.
At the same time, we use these brief banks to prepare motions that
block inflammatory or irrelevant evidence from being introduced
by the prosecution.
Investigators
Thorough investigations are necessary in most cases to develop evidence
for the defense. Our investigators are carefully trained in defense
tactics and theories so they can gather relevant information that
others often overlook. Even before being formally charged, a professional
investigator can provide the information needed to dissuade the
prosecution from pursuing a
frivolous case or to have the case dismissed before going to a full-blown
trial.
Expert Witnesses
Another essential part of your team is the expert witnesses that
your attorney can use to defend
you. They educate the jury about the physiological, psychological,
and medical issues in your case,
and provide the information necessary to refute the prosecution's
witnesses. Our experts have the
latest controlled studies on these issues, collected and translated
by our firm from international sources.
Under no circumstances should you talk about your case with anyone
(police detectives, clergy,
doctor, therapist, friends, social workers, state agencies, or parents)
until you have retained an attorney. Your statements to your doctor,
clergy, and therapist are not privileged (confidential).
Not talking is the hardest urge to control you hope to explain what
really happened. The police rely
on that emotion to get as much information from you as possible
in order to prosecute you.
Immediately contact an attorney who specializes in child abuse cases.
He can help you pre-arrange
bail so that you can avoid spending any length of time in jail if
arrested. People accused of child abuse are targets for beatings.
Do not tell any other inmate what you are charged with!
Do not rely on the police investigation to uncover all the facts.
Your only hope of proving your innocence is having a defense investigator
discover and protect important defense evidence before
it is lost.
If called by the accuser or a family member of the accuser, hang
up immediately. The call may be taped by the police and any statement
you make can be taken out of context and used against you
to build a case.
Be prepared for a search of your house, car or even your workplace.
The police most commonly
look for pictures of children, books and magazines with sexual material,
sex toys, sex manuals or encyclopedias, diaries, correspondence
or address books. Address books and correspondence are used to contact
anyone you know, including your employer. They may also look for
any private
notes on your case that are not clearly marked Attorney/Client Work
Product.
Should your house be searched, you have no right to interfere. Call
your attorney during the
search and do not engage in any conversation with the police.
What happens in Criminal Court?If you suspect that
you might be criminally charged with abuse or molest, an attorney
can begin an investigation of your case and help you make the financial
arrangements necessary for a bail bond or own recognizance release
even before the charges are filed. Arranging your bail prior to
any formal charges will keep you from spending any unnecessary time
in jail.
Arrest
If you have not made prior arrangements through your attorney, you
could be arrested at work
or at home rather than voluntarily surrendering yourself. In either
case, you will be finger-printed
and photographed prior to being released.
Arraignment
Next, you will be arraigned in Court where you will be informed
of the charges against you and
your rights. At the second hearing, which is called the preliminary
hearing, the court decides
whether or not there is sufficient evidence to bind your case over
to Superior Court for trial.
Trial
If you are bound over for trial, you will go to Superior Court for
arraignment, the presentation of motions, and for a trial date.Depending
on your case, your trial may be scheduled from 60 days to
6 months from the date of your arraignment and can last from a few
days to several weeks.
All 12 jurors must vote not guilty in order to acquit you.
Criminal charges of child abuse will take a tremendous emotional,
financial and psychological toll on you and your family because
criminal charges put you in the greatest risk of losing your freedom,
your family, and your life as you once knew it.
Anyone can be accused of abuse, which includes neglect, emotional
or psychological abuse,
corporal punishment, and physical or sexual abuse.
Removal of Children
An anonymous report can result in the removal of your children from
your home or their school
without your permission or knowledge. Child Protective Services
can detain your children for up to
48 hours without notifying you and can strip search them or give
them vaginal and anal exams without your consent.
Detention Hearings
If charged, the process begins with a detention hearing. At the
hearing, a judge decides whether
or not the children can be returned to their home. You can lose
your children to the system at this
hearing, even though you have not had a trial.
Plea Bargaining
Your trial will usually be set within 30 days. However, because
of case loads and time restraints,
you may be offered a plea bargain of no contest. Should this happen,
remember, that if you accept
a plea bargain, the court and CPS will treat you as an abuser or
molester, and you will never have
a second chance to prove your innocence.
Trial / Jurisdictional Hearing
Your trial is called a jurisdictional hearing in which
the judge decides the truthfulness of the accusations. If they are
found to be true, the state becomes the parent of the children.
Disposition Hearing
At the disposition hearing, the court will decide where to keep
your children, visitation issues, and counseling issues.
The toll of these actions not only severely affects the parents
involved, but may permanently
damage the children emotionally and psychologically. The best protection
you can give your
children is to find the right attorney who can quickly terminate
the case. Your attorney can help
prevent the placement of your children in long-term foster care
or in the state's adoption process.
Divorce court is the arena in which most false charges of abuse
or molest occur because one parent wants complete custody of the
children and is willing to damage the children psychologically and
emotionally by pitting them against the non-custodial parent. This
may be the most devastating of
all three courts because the accused is not only going through the
emotional trauma of divorce, but
risks losing his or her children and then facing juvenile or criminal
charges alone.
Restraining Order
If charged, the process usually begins with a temporary order initiated
by the spouse that prohibits
you from seeing your children.
Mediator
The case will be assigned to a mediator who is usually a counselor.
The mediator is required to
report accusations of child abuse or molest to CPS and the police.
If the court did not issue an order
preventing you from visiting the children, CPS might then file a
petition in Juvenile Court to prevent
you from seeing your children.
Trial
Your trial may be postponed indefinitely because the court calendars
are so full. The case will go
back to the mediator who will continue to make recommendations to
the judge, which usually limit
your visitation rights and attempt to settle your case out of court.
It is critical to present a defense
that shows motive, and many times this is shown through the introduction
of parental-alienation
syndrome. It is also crucial that the children be placed with the
non-alienating parent. However,
this is extremely difficult because the non-alienating parent is
the parent under the cloud of an
accusation.
Criminal/Juvenile Charges
Even if you do go to court and win, there is no guarantee that charges
will not be made in juvenile
or criminal court against you. The end result is that you are financially
and emotionally drained,
and you may still lose custody of your children.
Certified Criminal Law Specialists: A Necessity
The California State Bar has developed a program to distinguish
attorneys as "Certified Criminal
Law Specialists." To qualify, an attorney must meet rigid standards
of work experience and specialized education. Only after several
years of practice may an attorney apply to take a second, one-day
bar examination that tests his knowledge exclusively in criminal
law, and after passing that exam, does the attorney become state
certified in this specialty.
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