To beat a sexual assault charge, you should avoid speaking to the police and others involved in the case, hire an experienced lawyer, and gather and present evidence that supports the best legal defense for your situation. There are several legal defenses that are available. Your lawyer will help you understand which one is the best fit for your case.
| DO | DO NOT |
| Hire a lawyer with experience handling sex offense cases | Talk to police without your lawyer present |
| With your lawyer, gather evidence about what happened | Talk about the case to friends or family members |
| Decide what the best legal defense strategy will be for your case | Post about the case on social media |
Avoid speaking about the case
You should avoid speaking about the case to others and, to the extent possible, to the police. Anytime you talk about the case, you create the possibility of saying something incriminating.
Avoid talking about the case to others, like your friends or family members. Police are likely to question them. Police are especially likely to interview them if they learn that you have talked to them about the case. Anyone you talk to may also proactively report what you said to law enforcement. The criminal defense lawyers at our law firm have found that this is more common than you might think. Sexual assault is a very sensitive issue. Someone that you trust may find themselves unwilling to keep what you have said a secret.
This includes posting about the case on social media. Even if you only share the post with friends, someone may take a screenshot and report it to the police.
Avoid talking to police, as well. Their job is to gather evidence of potential crimes and move the case forward. Odds are high that they have found evidence you are unaware of. What you say could fit into the narrative of the case that the police are building. Even if you think what you are saying makes you seem more innocent, that may not be the case.
If you are ever put in a position where you must talk to the police, make sure you have your lawyer with you.
Hire a criminal defense lawyer with experience handling sex crimes
Hiring a criminal defense lawyer with experience handling sexual assault charges is essential.
Sexual assault charges are serious. Convictions carry years in prison. They will ruin your reputation after your release and you may have to register in a sex offender registry. They are also very sensitive cases to defend. Even just the allegation can put you in a bad light. Sex offenses are also unique in that there are rarely any witnesses – just you and your accuser.
All of these are reasons for hiring an experienced criminal defense attorney with experience handling criminal charges of sexual assault.
While you have a right to a lawyer if you cannot afford one, public defenders are notoriously overworked.[1] If they cannot put the time that is necessary into your case, your odds of a guilty verdict increase.
Having the legal representation of a sex crimes attorney is essential for beating a sexual assault charge.
Gather evidence
You and your defense lawyer would then gather as much evidence as possible about what happened. Exactly what evidence you would gather would depend on the following:
- the nature of the allegations,
- what stage the case is in, such as whether formal charges have already been filed or not, and
- as evidence is gathered, what line of defense you will take.
Some examples of evidence that may be relevant to your case are:
- texts, emails, and any other communications that you had with the alleged victim,
- character witnesses that can attest to your good behavior, or to the credibility of the purported victim,
- signs that someone else committed the sexual assault,
- DNA evidence, and
- anything that shows you were not at the scene of the alleged offense, including:
- security footage that shows you were somewhere else,
- receipts from a store far away at about the same time that the assault took place, or
- testimony from anyone you were with at the time.
If law enforcement has discovered exculpatory evidence, they are required to disclose it to you and your lawyer. However, our defense team has found that this does not always happen.
Six sexual assault defense strategies
Every sexual assault case is different. Which defense strategy is best for you will depend on the facts of the case and your interests. 6 common defense strategies to sexual assault charges are:
- alibi,
- consent,
- DNA evidence,
- misidentification,
- false accusations, and
Your criminal defense lawyer will explain which one is likely to lead to the best possible outcome in your case.
Alibi
The alibi defense argues that you could not have committed the sexual assault because you were somewhere else. Proving this defense generally involves:
- testimony from the person or people that you were with,
- character witness statements about these people, and/or
- physical evidence that shows you were somewhere else, such as:
- security footage,
- a receipt for a purchase made far away from the alleged offense and around when it purportedly happened or
- cell phone location information.
Consent
To be a sexual assault, the sexual activity must be nonconsensual. If you can establish that the incident was consensual, you can beat a sexual assault charge. This often requires the following types of evidence:
- text messages or emails from before the incident that indicate that the alleged victim had consented to it,
- communications from after the incident that states or implies that there was consent for the sexual contact, and/or
- testimony about what was said and done during the sexual act.
If the sexual assault involved intercourse, the consent defense typically cannot include evidence about the alleged victim’s past sexual behavior. This is prohibited by state rape shield laws. It is also not a defense or legal issue in statutory rape cases, as victims under the age of consent cannot legally consent to sexual conduct.
DNA evidence
In some sexual assault cases, DNA is found at the scene. If you have it tested and it is from someone else, that is a strong indicator that you are not guilty.
Misidentification
In some cases, there was a sexual assault but then the victim blamed the wrong person. If you are the one being blamed, you would have to show that you are the victim of misidentification.
This defense often goes hand-in-hand with an alibi defense.
False accusations
It is surprisingly common for people to accuse someone else of a crime, knowing that the crime did not happen. False accusations of sexual offenses or domestic violence are among the most common. The person claiming to be the victim may be acting:
- out of jealousy, revenge, or anger,
- to put pressure on you,
- to get leverage over you, or
- to tarnish your reputation.
Our defense lawyers find that false allegations happen most often:
- after a breakup,
- during a divorce, or
- right before a child custody hearing.
Proving that the allegations are false often involves:
- picking apart the details of the accusation,
- stressing the circumstances surrounding the allegations, and
- highlighting the accuser’s bad character or history of making false statements.
Innocence
Another defense to allegations of sexual assault is to challenge the factual allegations head-on. In criminal law, it is up to the prosecutors to prove the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt. According to the California Criminal Jury Instructions:
“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you with an abiding conviction that the charge is true. The evidence need not eliminate all possible doubt because everything in life is open to some possible or imaginary doubt.”[2]
By presenting evidence that you are innocent or that undermines the prosecution’s case, you can prevent them from proving their criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. In some cases, you can even get the case dismissed for lack of evidence.
Legal Citations:
[1] See Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Jugal K. Patel, “One Lawyer, 194 Felony Cases, and No Time,” The New York Times (Jan. 31, 2019) and Nicholas M. Pace et al., “National Public Defense Workload Study,” RAND Corporation (July 27, 2023).
[2] California Criminal Jury Instructions (CALCRIM) No. 220.
