Criminal Defense Stories

Non-Consensual Sexual Sex means any sexual penetration no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without consent.  Consent is never implied by things like your past behavior, what you wear, or where you go. Sexual consent is always clearly communicated — there should be no question or mystery. Silence is not consent. And it’s not just important the first time you’re with someone. Couples who’ve had sex before or even ones who’ve been together for a long time also need to consent before sex — every time. There are laws about who can consent and who can’t. People who are drunk, high, or passed out can’t consent to sex. There are also laws to protect minors (people under the age of 18) from being pressured into sex with someone much older than them. The age of sexual consent is how old a person needs to be in order to be considered legally capable of consenting to sex. Adults who have sex with someo...

 You’ve found yourself in this nightmare scenario, being on the wrong side of false sexual assault allegations. And, quite frankly, it’s a situation for which no one can adequately prepare for. Unfortunately, many situations exist that can lead to this horrible scenario:   Mischaracterized consensual contact Misidentification by an alleged victim Malicious intent by the alleged victim If you’re falsely accused of CSC , you will want to protect yourself in any way possible. However, talking to the police or trying to iron things out with the complaining witness isn’t something you should take on yourself. You need to immediately contact a skilled sex crimes lawyer who will point out inconsistencies in the accuser’s story and flaws in the prosecution’s case.   Defending Yourself From A False Sex Crime Accusation Choose an Experienced Attorney You need to hire a lawyer as soon as you have been accused of the crime because you do not want to blow this thing out of proportion....

In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behavior). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual contact with minors under the age of consent, it is a generic term, and very few jurisdictions use the actual term statutory rape in the language of statutes. Different jurisdictions use many different statutory terms for the crime, such as sexual assault (SA), rape of a child (ROAC), corruption of a minor (COAM), unlawful sex with a minor (USWAM), carnal knowledge of a minor (CKOAM), sexual battery or simply carnal knowledge. The terms child sexual abuse or child molestation may also be used, but statutory rape generally refers to sex between an adult and a minor past the age of puberty, and may therefore be distinguished from child sexual abuse. Sexual relations with a prepubescent child is typically treated as a more serious crime. In statu...

Judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and probation officers all use a statutory structure or scheme to determine the range within which a sentence should fall. The  sentencing guidelines are modeled after the Federal sentencing guidelines. While the sentencing guidelines are no longer mandatory, they are still highly persuasive. Sentencing guidelines for criminal sexual conduct only refer to the minimum sentence, while the maximum penalty is set forth by the criminal statute as set forth above. So, when a judge says sentencing is 18 months to five years, the 18 months might be from the guidelines whereas the 5 years is from the criminal statute. The Sentencing Guidelines are calculated based upon the individual defendant’s criminal history, called Prior Record Variables, and based on the specific facts of the case, called Offense Variables.  Once these variables are scored, which means assigned numbers, then a sentencing grid is used to calculate the guideline range. These...

3rd degree criminal sexual conduct includes what is commonly known as statutory rape which involves sex with a person who is younger than 16 years of age as well as the traditional definition of rape, which involves non-consensual sex by means of force or coercion. Third degree CSC charges are outlined in the Michigan Penal Code (750.520d), and a person is guilty of CSC in the third degree if sexual penetration occurs accompanying any of the following: The other person is between 13 and 16 years of age. Force or coercion (i.e. weapons, articles used to imitate weapons, physical violence,  threats of violence, threats of future harm, unacceptable medical treatment or examination, surprise or concealment) is used to commit sexual penetration. The accused knows (or has reason to know) the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless. The other person is related to the accused by blood or affinity to the third degree. The other person is over 16 but unde...

The bare-bones definition of penetration is this: any object that makes its way through or into something. Defining Sexual penetration : If you’re talking about sex, then penetration is just a fancy way of saying a penis or dildo is being inserted into a vagina or rectum. Some people believe you can achieve cervical orgasms by penetrating the cervix, but that’s not exactly true. Cervical orgasms are achieved by stimulating the cervix — not penetration. Deep Penetration Deep penetration is sometimes also called cervical penetration. This is because deep penetration into a vagina can sometimes feel like the cervix is being penetrated. However, cervical penetration is not possible. Outside of childbirth, the cervix remains very small.   Some people believe that deep penetration is dangerous. With enough lubrication and patience most people can enjoy deep penetration without pain or injury.  How to Explore Deep Penetration If deep penetration sounds appealing to you, there are a f...

 Criminal sexual conduct in the first and second degree typically apply to conduct involving personal injury to the victim; the use or threatened use of force, violence, or a dangerous weapon; or victims who are extremely young. Criminal sexual conduct in the third, fourth, and fifth degree typically address less aggravated conduct and apply to other situations in which the victim either did not consent to the sexual conduct, was relatively young, or was incapable of voluntarily consenting to the sexual conduct due to a particular vulnerability or due to the special relationship between the offender and the victim.  First-degree criminal sexual conduct is the most serious kind of sex offense with which you can be charged. In essence, 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct is the crime known more commonly as rape or sexual assault and also encompasses actions that most people might think of as child rape or child molestation, and sexual assault involving someone with a mental or ph...

Sexual penetration is the insertion of a body part or other object into a body orifice, such as the vagina, anus or mouth, as part of human sexual activity or animal sexual behavior. The term is most commonly used in statute law in the context of proscribing certain sexual activities. Terms such as sexual intercourse or carnal knowledge are more commonly found in older statutes, while many modern criminal statutes use the term sexual penetration because it is a broad term encompassing (unless otherwise qualified) any form of penetrative sexual activity, including digital or with an object, and may involve only the most minimal penetration. Some jurisdictions refer to some forms of penetration as "acts of indecency", or other terminology. During vaginal sex (also known as penetrative vaginal sex, sexual intercourse and just sex) the penis goes into the vagina. If you watch movies or look at pornography you may have a very unrealistic idea of what sex is like. There is no one ...

A false accusation of sex crimes  is the reporting of a sex crime where no sex crime has occurred. Rates of false accusation are sometimes inflated or misrepresented due to conflation with terms such as unfounded. These designations, which allow law enforcement to close cases without arriving at a conclusion, are used to describe reports without enough evidence, as opposed to cases where the accuser is not credible or says that the account is untrue. Causes of false accusations of rape may fall into two categories: non-deliberate deception such as false memories, and lies. False memories There are several ways in which an alleged victim can accidentally come to believe that they have been raped by the person(s) they accuse.  Lies An accuser may have several motivations to falsely claim they have been raped. There is disagreement on how many different categories these may be put into: revenge, producing an alibi or to get sympathy/attention. Things to do When Falsely Accused of...