Dallas Texas Sex Crime Lawyer
Next to serious violent crimes, child sex assault or other sex crimes can carry the greatest risk for state or federal prison sentences, even for first-time offenders, as well as registration as a sex offender for life. Child sexual abuse also carries the greatest risk for false accusations resulting in criminal prosecutions.
According to the latest report of the Collin County Criminal Justice Plan, the Collin County Child Advocacy Center referred for prosecution to the Collin County DA Crimes Against Children Unit a total of 543 cases of child sexual assault between 2005 and 2007. Of these, 125 were no-billed by the grand jury. Of the total case dispositions for Collin County durning these three years, 254 cases ended up with guilty verdicts and 104 cases were either dismissed, not guilty or declared a mistrial. (See p. 9, Collin County Criminal Justice Plan http://www.nctcog.org/cs/cj/pdf/plans/Collin_FY10_draft.pdf) As you can see, approximated 25% to 35% of these allegations get dismissed at either the Grand Jury stage or trial court stage. These are all cases where an individual has had to endure the embarrassment and humiliation of being investigated, charged, arrested and prosecuted for these offenses.
Young children very often live in a world of mixed reality and fantasy. Whenever parents, siblings, relatives or adult caretakers are accused of sexually molesting a young child, a assortment of child abuse police detectives, county social workers, pediatric doctors and nurses swoon in and basically take over and mold the conscious mind of the allegedly abused child.
First the child is subjected to a frightening and confusing physical examination by a band of doctors and nurses from the sex assault division of the local county or police jurisdiction. Often a SANE Examination (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) is performed on the child victim at a local hospital. This is a comprehensive examination and documentation of the child, including the pubic region, to determine and gather evidence to see if a sex assault has occurred. The suggestive questioning begins here when doctors and nurses ask the child if the suspected abuser has used fingers, tongue, or penis to violate the child's physical integrity. Here, the programming of the child begins.
Next, social workers from CPS (Child Protective Services) march the child into make-believe play rooms and ask the child questions using anatomically correct doll figures.
No greater danger to false accusations of child sexual abuse exists than when social workers ask questions which direct the minor to give the desired answer, using the naked doll figures to drive home the specific abuse. I have reviewed many of these 'interrogations' of children. They are often ripe with problems and inaccurate interview techniques. The Collin County Child Advocacy Center has performed over 2,100 of these forensic interviews from 2005-2007. These are all situations where there is a reason to believe that sexual abuse or an injury to a child has occurred. (see page 11, above referenced report (add hyperlinked here too) I use former Child Advocacy employees and interviewers to review these interviews for problems and mistakes, to further help in the defense of these types of charges.
A young child who has already been softened by hysterical parents, uniformed officers, doctors and nurses, readily picks up what the social workers want him or her to say. Pretty soon, you have social study and police reports with graphic depictions of sexual abuse acts literally conjured up during this programming play period with the child. Considering that Collin County's local child advocacy center reports that 93% of child abuse offenses are committed by family members, these charges are devastating to families and can tear them apart.
Next, the suspected abuser is arrested and generally must pay a huge amount of bail to get out of jail, only to face serious child sex abuse charges in Dallas, Collin or Denton County Criminal District Court which could send him or her to prison for a many years.
Sometimes the detective assigned to the case will attempt to interview the defendant prior to being arrested or after the arrest has already been made. Many times, they will offer to let you 'tell your side of the story ' or 'this is your last chance to help yourself". All of these interview techniques are designed for one thing and one thing only: to get you to confess to het allegations. Never speak to a Detective or investigator in one of these situations without an attorney.
In some situations, a polygraph will be offered in an attempt for you to 'prove your innocence. Never submit to a polygraph examination by law enforcement. While the results of these examinations cannot be used against you in court, the fact that you took and failed one will carry a great amount of weight with the Detectives and Prosecutors assigned to your case. Often, a suspect will be told that they failed when in fact the results were inconclusive, thus resulting in a full confession. At the law office of J. Michael Price II, we employ the services of one of the moste well-respected polygraph firms in the nation to confidentially prove that these allegations are false. Only in the course of an attorney-client relationship can you be assured that the results of and any information learned form a polygraph can remain confidential. Mike has used passed polygraph examinations in these situations many times to obtain no-bills by the Grand Jury.
What should you do when faced with this type of machine that is designed to warehouse you in prison for the rest of your life? You must select a very experienced Dallas sex crime defense lawyer who will be involved in all stages of the interrogation process, will hire child psychologist experts to review videotaped interrogations of the child and then interview the child, if possible, to determine how badly the child has been brainwashed.
J. Michael Price II will hire a doctor or nurse specially trained in child abuse to review the SANE examination findings and, finally, an experienced professional investigator will interview all the adults involved in the initial reporting of the abuse, the siblings, former spouses or girlfriends, neighbors, friends, teachers, family doctors and nurses to find out if there any strong knowledgeable witnesses who could testify on your behalf and greatly weaken the prosecution's case.
IF YOU ARE ACCUSED OF CHILD SEX CRIME IN DALLAS, DENTON or COLLIN COUNTY YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO DELAY YOUR DEFENSE. CONTACT ME NOW FOR A FREE CONSULTATION ON HOW TO PREPARE A SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE TO THESE CHARGES
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