Defending Rockville Sex Crimes Cases
Facing a sex crime charge can he an intimidating process with far reaching consequences including everything from jail time to a hit on your reputation. For this reason it is important to consult with a Rockville sex crimes lawyer who can look at the various aspects of your case and develop a defense specifically tailored to you. Read below to learn more about the specific elements that go into building a defense for a sex crimes case or call and schedule a free consultation today to learn more about what an attorney in Rockville can do for you.
What Are Some Aspects Of Building A Defense That Are Very Important In Sex Crimes Cases?
The most important aspects of the defense of sex crimes cases are knowing the parties and particularly if they knew each other. Understanding the relationship and each party’s motivation would help you in determining what the appropriate defense in a particular case might be.
In addition to that, the prosecution has a duty under Maryland case law to hand over all discovery in the case within a specific amount of time. The discovery that the prosecution handles in a case like this is usually evaluated before it’s given to the defense attorney. For example DNA is usually evaluated by a DNA expert before it’s handed over. A rape kit is usually evaluated by a state expert before it’s handed over.
It’s important to work with defense attorney who also wants to have his or her own understanding of that and is going to be able to identify the problems with the procedures in a way that the government actually conducted them. Either the defense attorney can have his own evaluation conducted of those items, or is able to at least successfully cross examine the government’s witnesses when they testify about their conclusions as to those pieces of evidence and present for the jury a different understanding or a different take on what the evidence actually shows.
Long-Terms Consequences of a Sex Crime Conviction
The most significant aspect of facing a sex crime conviction is the sex offender registry. Many people that have dealt with sex crimes will even say that serving a little bit of jail time is not necessarily as bad as the prospect of being in the sex offender registry for anywhere from 15 years all the way to the rest of their lives. The sex offender registry is a database that every state has some form of where you are required to register your name, your address, there are occasional notification requirements to your neighbors about the fact that you may have been charged or convicted of these particular kinds of crimes so they can be alerted.
Consequences of Being on the Sex Offender Registry
You’re often required to stay away from school zones by a particular distance; you’re also required to report any changes of address to the appropriate authorities if you move. And sometimes you’re required to refrain from participation in certain events. In Maryland, people that are on the sex offender registry are not allowed to host any kind of Halloween function because the state is aware that there are children in the area at that particular time of the year. So on Halloween night in Maryland, somebody on the sex offender registry is required to keep their home dark and not invite trick or treaters to their residence or participate in that particular holiday because of their status on the sex offender registry. You’re also often required to report to your employers that you’re on the registry and cannot be considered for certain kinds of positions, particularly ones that involve interaction with young children such as being a school bus driver, being a camp counselor, or being a teacher.
Sex crimes also have a different stigma associated with them than do other criminal charges, particularly when they involve minors. When a person is charged with a sex crime and they have to report it, there’s often a different sort of embarrassment level that one tends to feel on reporting about something that is so personal to them to employers or other authorities.
How a Sex Crimes Lawyer Can Defend Clients
The reason that a defense attorney can be very helpful in these situations is not only to determine whether or not the state can prove the charge itself, but also from another perspective in terms of plea negotiations because in negotiating sex related crimes a huge aspect of our negotiation always is trying to keep our clients off of the sex offender registry if at all possible.
One of the best ways to do that is to consider negotiating with the government for different kinds of charges as opposed to sex crime related charges. For example, a person who is charged with a sex offense of some kind might have the ability to negotiate their change to an assault instead of a sex crime charge. An assault charge would still fit the elements when somebody is charged with a sex crime, but would have different consequences. While assault charges still carry a significant amount of jail time, what they do not carry is the possibility of registering on the sex offender registry list which again could be extremely detrimental to somebody’s future. Trying to keep somebody out of that list is a very important goal while negotiating as a sex criminal defense attorney.