Aggravated Child Molestation, Aggravated Sodomy, and Child Molestation charges dismissed; defense counsel convinces prosecution to drop the case without seeking an indictment. (2020)

Defense Counsel:

Charges: Aggravated Child Molestation, Aggravated Sodomy, Child Molestation

State’s Case:

After being accused, tried, and found not guilty of molesting his young daughter, Defendant was accused of molesting two of his sons. Defendant’s six-year-old son said Defendant placed his mouth his anus and penis; and Defendant’s eight-year-old son said Defendant put his mouth on his ears, neck, and belly in a sexual way. Defendant was arrested and facing 70 years to life in prison, followed by probation and sex offender registration for life.

Judgement:

Defendant had been prohibited from seeing his children for some time because of his daughter’s prior allegations of abuse. After being acquitted of those charges, Defendant eventually started having supervised visitations with his sons. Following his first unsupervised visit with them, his ex-wife alleged that two of the boys came home and disclosed that the defendant had molested them.

Defense counsel gathered and studied all the materials in the prior case, and learned that Defendant’s ex-wife was deeply involved in manipulating the daughter’s allegations. Defendant adamantly denied doing anything inappropriate to his daughter then, or to his sons now. Instead, he explained, it was just his ex-wife “at it again.”

Defendant had taken every precaution when he reestablished contact with his sons. He made sure he was always with another person; he recorded phone calls; he even videotaped his time together with his children. All of this material became evidence supporting his innocence.

During the case, the Department of Family and Children Services (“DFCS”) placed Defendant on the Child Abuse Registry (“CAR”). Defense counsel appealed that decision and demanded an administrative hearing, where they cross-examined Defendant’s ex-wife, police investigators, and the children. The children denied that their dad had done anything inappropriate to them, and it became abundantly clear that the ex-wife had manipulated them into saying otherwise. The judge ordered DFCS to remove Defendant from the CAR, finding there was not enough evidence to support the allegations against him.

Defense counsel also conducted an exhaustive investigation of the ex-wife’s background, interviewed witnesses, went to the scene of the alleged crime, had Defendant undergo psychological and other evaluations, and consulted with experts about child behavior and the effects of improper influence and manipulation on children.

After working up the case, defense counsel met with the prosecutor and presented all the forgoing evidence, ultimately convincing him not to indict the defendant on the new allegations. The warrants were dismissed and the case was closed.