Sexual Intercourse without Consent
Age matters
Regardless of the Charge
The credibility of the alleged victim always matters.
Sex cases are extremely difficult cases to try to a jury. The bad news is that testimony of one person, and no physical evidence, is sufficient to convict.
The good news is that juries in sex cases seem to be hypersensitive to a victim's credibility.
Any variation, embellishment or lie by the alleged victim can and does lead to not guilty verdicts.
Using Uncertainty to to the Client's Advantage
How We Convinced the State to back off
When the state is considering offering a really good plea deal (because we have already declined their bad offers,) verse going to trial they seriously weigh whether or not they will lose.
In making that decisions the state considers their case, especially their alleged victim's story and their credibility as the key witness in the case. The state also considers whether or not the defense attorney is skilled enough to challenge the alleged victim's story without alienating the jury.
In this situation we were able to convince the County Attorney that Mariah would be able to convince the jury that because the alleged victim lied about one fact, she lied about every other material fact.
After careful consideration, the state offered, and we accepted, a plea to the non-sexual offense of Criminal Endangerment, no additional incarceration.
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