Sexual Abuse and Assault Defense Attorneys in New York, NY

As defense attorneys who represent people who are accused of sexual abuse and assault, we make sure you get the best possible outcome, given the unique circumstances of your case.

An experienced sexual abuse and assault defense attorney will be able to provide you with an effective legal strategy and strong defense, which can serve as sufficient leverage when bargaining with the prosecution for an outcome that is acceptable to both parties.

Depending on the strength of the evidence, your attorney may be able to assert the dismissal of the charges or bargain for reduced charges and a more lenient sentence.

What is Sexual Abuse?

Sexual abuse can be any form of unwanted or nonconsensual sexual conduct. Sexual conduct includes a wide range of acts such as sexual intercourse, oral sexual conduct, anal sexual contact, and sexual contact. Sexual contact is broad enough to refer to any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire. Sexual abuse can even include indecent exposure of one’s private and intimate parts to a child, despite not having any touching involved.

In New York, sexual abuse is punishable under Article 130 of the New York Penal Law, which defines a range of sex offenses. These sex offenses include rape, criminal sexual acts, forcible touching, persistent sexual abuse, sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual conduct against a child, female genital mutilation, facilitating a sex offense with a controlled substance, and predatory sexual assault. Sexual abuse can be considered a Class A Misdemeanor or A-II felony, depending on the type of unwanted sexual conduct.

Examples of these sex offenses are attempted rape, fondling, sexual contact or touching, forcing the victim to perform sexual acts and unlawful sexual intercourse or penetration, or even just indecently showing your sexual body parts to a child. Sexual abuse can even occur among partners, such as married couples, if no consent was given before initiating any sexual activity.  

An experienced sexual abuse and assault defense attorney can find the weaknesses in the prosecution’s evidence, given the particular elements of the sex offense, to ensure the best possible outcome for the client.

Defenses in Sexual Abuse and Assault Charges

A charge of sexual abuse and assault is difficult to prove, especially because these types of acts are usually committed in private with no witnesses involved and are normally reported later after many years from the time the incident happened.

A sexual abuse and assault defense attorney can employ a number or combination of defenses, given the unique circumstances of the client’s case.

Statute of Limitations

A child victim of sexual abuse has until the age of 55 years old to file a civil lawsuit, while an adult victim has between 2 to 20 years to file the civil claim, depending on the sex offense involved.

For criminal cases, a child victim can file a case for a felony offense until 28 years old and for a misdemeanor offense, until 25 years old. In the case of adults, the victim can file a criminal case between 2 to 5 years, depending on the alleged sex offense.

When the case is filed beyond this period, the sexual abuse and assault defense attorney can request the dismissal of the charge due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Lack of Evidence

Most sexual abuse and sex assault offenses lack sufficient evidence in order to be convicted of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This is because most sex offenses are committed in private places with almost no witnesses involved except for the victim and the abuser. Unless there are multiple victims involved which can demonstrate intent and motive, can corroborate testimony and establish a pattern of behavior, isolated circumstances of sex offenses are more difficult to prove. This gives the sexual abuse and assault defense attorney more leverage in negotiating a positive outcome for the client.

Consent

Consent is another substantial defense used for sex offenses, especially when the parties involved know each other, are dating each other, are married to each other, are friends, or are sexual partners.  When the sex offense is committed between two people who have a history of consensual sex and there are no witnesses involved, it becomes an issue of “he said, she said,” which means it is one person’s word against the other. It is hard to prove or disprove the allegations when there are no witnesses. A sexual abuse and assault defense attorney can evaluate your case to determine whether this type of defense is applicable.

Alibi

When it is physically impossible for the accused to be in that particular location where the sex offense was committed because there are witnesses and/or documents that can corroborate the accused’s testimony of being in another place at the time of commission, the accused has an alibi, which is a strong defense.

Mistaken Identity

A mistake in identifying the accused can occur when the victim is intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, which could compromise the victim’s senses and memory. Because an offense must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, the victim’s intoxication or use of drugs can provide doubt regarding the identity of the accused and the memory of the victim regarding the commission of the sex offense.

Facing the charges of sexual abuse and assault can be traumatizing. Having an experienced sexual abuse and assault defense attorney to help you prepare a strong defense and to represent you with the police and/or prosecutor is important to ensure you continue having a clean criminal record. Should you need legal representation, we, at the law offices of Albert Goodwin, are here for you.  We are located in New York, NY. You can call us at 212-233-1233 or send us an email at [email protected].