Under the law, no physical evidence is needed for many sex crimes, and no corroboration is needed for the accuser’s story. If the police/prosecutor believe your accuser, charges will get filed.
45+ Years
Of Combined Experience
A single accusation is all it takes. No other evidence is needed to be charged with a sex crime, and to have your life turned upside down. Depending on the charge, you could be facing a serious felony as well as the requirement that you register as a sex offender. Often, this also means significant jail/prison time.
We know this is scary and you likely feel completely overwhelmed. We’re here to help. We fight sex crime cases on a daily basis and have proven strategies to successfully defend against them and get you the best possible resolution.
Below, you’ll find answers to many common questions related to sex crime allegations, but the best way to make sure your individual questions are answered is to simply give us a call for a free, no strings attached consultation.
Under the law, no physical evidence is needed for many sex crimes, and no corroboration is needed for the accuser’s story. If the police/prosecutor believe your accuser, charges will get filed.
A little further down on this page you can read a few brief descriptions about some of the more common sex crimes in Washington. You can also see what sex crimes require registration on this page as well. For now, here is list of some of the more common sex crimes we see in Washington:
This, of course, depends on what charge you are facing. The best way to determine exactly what has to be proven is to look at the Washington Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions. These instructions list out an element by element breakdown of exactly what has to be proven against you for particular offenses. Rather than try to decipher this for yourself, simply give us a call and we will explain everything.
Two basic defenses are (1) a general denial of all allegations, or (2) you lacked the necessary intent or knowledge required to be considered guilty of what you have been accused of. For intent/knowledge, there are ‘affirmative’ defenses for certain sex crimes. Ordinarily, the defendant has no burden of proof whatsoever, meaning that you are presumed innocent and it is up to the State of Washington to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (the highest standard of evidence that exists in the law). However, an ‘affirmative’ defense is an exception to this general rule. When applicable, if a defendant is making particular claims, he or she has the burden of proving these assertions to a jury by a ‘preponderance of the evidence.’ This is a much lower standard than ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’ An example of this can be found in a case of a charge Indecent Liberties where this issue is whether the accuser had the capacity to consent: RCW 9A.44.030(1) In any prosecution under this chapter in which lack of consent is based solely upon the victim’s mental incapacity or upon the victim’s being physically helpless, it is a defense which the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the offense the defendant reasonably believed that the victim was not mentally incapacitated and/or physically helpless.
The consequences of a conviction vary greatly depending on the charge and other circumstances. We list some potential consequences here, but in order to get the more specific answers about your particular case, simply pick up the phone and give us a call.
That depends on whether you are convicted of a sex crime and what that sex crime is. Further, Washington State has the following different levels of registration: Lifetime, Indefinite, 15 years, and 10 years. The duty to register begins after you are convicted and released from custody.
Here are the lists:
Every case has its own unique set of facts and circumstances, it’s not possible for us to tell you what result you will get on your particular case until we have had a chance to fully litigate it. That said, here are some potential results; all of which we have achieved for our clients:
Simply give us a call for a full explanation of what these outcomes mean and how we can achieve them.
Washington has some of the strongest sex offender registration and notification laws in the nation and was the first state to implement involuntary civil commitment for what the state labels the “most dangerous sexual predators.” After you are convicted of a sex crime and get sentenced to prison, if you are labeled as a “Level 3 offender” (the highest risk of reoffending) then prior to your release from custody, you must undergo a review to determine whether or not you should be referred for possible civil commitment to the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center (SCC) as a sexually violent predator. Washington State law defines an SVP as any person:
If a judge finds offenders meet this criteria, they are held indefinitely at the SCC until their mental condition improves such that they may be released into society. If you are in danger of an SVP commitment, contact us so we can talk to you about how we can help you try to avoid this.
A Psychosexual evaluation is when you sit down with psychologist to undergo questioning and testing, including a “sexual history” polygraph. There are a few doctors in Washington that are highly respected by the courts and prosecutor’s alike. You have to pay for these evaluations separately and it’s important to know that you are not paying the doctor to write a favorable report for you. Rather, the report will be an honest evaluation based on their professional opinions. Thus, it’s important to be be prepared for these interviews and also know when it’s a good idea NOT to do them. There are number of other important things to discuss in relation to these tests, and we would be happy to do so as part of a free consultation.
SSOSA is essentially a way to avoid a potentially lengthy prison sentence by undergoing treatment instead (although you could still be facing up to a year in county jail). In addition to possible county jail, a sentence to state prison will also be imposed, but it gets “suspended” pending successful completion of treatment (meaning you never have to serve the prison sentence). Many sex crimes could potentially qualify for SSOSA, but not Rape 2 nor any other sex offense that is also considered to be a “serious violent offense.” If you are eligible based on your alleged offense, you must also meet the following criteria:
It’s important to note that even if you are eligible for SSOSA, it does not mean you will get it, or that you even want to get it for that matter. It takes an experienced attorney to evaluate your case and then give you advice as to whether SSOSA is a good option for you or not. If it is, then we will make sure all the appropriate steps are being taken to give you the best possible chance of getting this resolution.
Sex offenses are not eligible for FOSA, unfortunately.
The answer to this varies depending on your particular situation, but there are three universal pieces of advice:
From there, we need to hear more about your individual situation to advise your further. In the meantime, please view our video below on the subject and visit our Under Investigation page.
False allegations of rape are commonplace, and all it takes is one person pointing their finger at you and you can get charged. No corroboration of any kind is needed. No DNA, no other witnesses, nothing. Rape defenses generally fall into two main categories: (1) No sex occurred at all; or (2) the sex was consensual. These are two very distinct defenses, each requiring a skilled approach by an experienced legal team.
Sexual assault cases often come down to nothing more than one person’s word against another’s. In many situations, there is no physical evidence, no witnesses, and no objective proof of what actually occurred. Despite this, people are frequently charged based solely on an accusation.
Issues of consent are central in these cases, particularly when alcohol or drugs are involved. What is later described as an assault may have been perceived at the time as consensual. These cases require a careful and aggressive defense that focuses on credibility, inconsistencies, and the surrounding circumstances.
These are complex and delicate cases that definitely require an experienced attorney by your side. The very first thing a jury thinks in a case of this nature is, “why would a child ever lie about being molested?” Because of this, even though the burden is on the state to prove your guilt, in these cases, the reality is we often have to work to prove your innocence.
CMIP for short is one of those odd statutes in Washington where a first offense can be a gross misdemeanor, unless the alleged communication was done by electronic means, in which case it is a class C felony. Either way, if you’re convicted, you would be required to register as a sex offender. Knowledge about the the age of the person you were in communication with is often a key element in these cases and we have a lot of experience successfully challenging that element.
We also defend luring a minor charges.
The crime of Indecent liberties revolves around the capacity to consent to sexual contact. In other words, was the alleged victim incapable of consent because of being mentally defective or incapacitated or physically helpless? This comes up in a number of different circumstances. A few of which are:
Prosecutors often take a hard stance on indecent liberty cases and as a result these cases have a higher likelihood of ending up in trial compared to many other cases. We always exhaust all pre-trial remedies first, but if that if trial is our only option then we will be ready to fight hard for a “not guilty” verdict.
Indecent Exposure is typically charged as a simple misdemeanor. In short, it occurs when someone intentionally exposes themselves to someone else, and it’s reasonable for that other person to be alarmed/offended.
Indecent exposure is elevated to a gross misdemeanor if the exposure is made to someone under 14 years old.
It is only a felony if someone has a prior conviction for either indecent exposure or for a sex crime.
The good news is that indecent exposure itself is NOT a sex crime in Washington State, meaning if you are convicted of it, you would not have to register as a sex offender.
In handling these cases, we fight to avoid having an indecent exposure allegation result in a conviction of any kind for our clients.
Voyeurism arrests are on the rise in Washington. This is in part due to virtually every phone now being equipped with a camera and/or video recording capabilities. We typically see allegations of this come up where the victim was in a place where they had a reasonable expectation of privacy (a bathroom, a clothing store changing room, a locker room, a house, apartment or hotel, etc.) and they are filmed or photographed without their knowledge and consent.
The state also must prove that the filming or photographing was done for the purpose of arousing or gratify sexual desires.
We have successfully handled a number of these cases and are standing by ready to discuss the best possible defense of your voyeurism case as well.
In State Courts, this allegation is referred to as possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, while in Federal Court, it is referred to as Possession of Child Pornography. These days, we most commonly see this charge associated with electronic files/folders stored on a client’s computer or other device. In particular, it often arises in cases where there is alleged file sharing on protocols such as BitTorrent and UTorrent, which can also sometimes lead to “Dealing” charges as well.
There are varying approached to defending this allegation. For instance, many times our client does not personally know the person in the picture/video. Thus if you are not in possession of any facts that would prove you knew the age of the person, then you have a very viable defense to this charge if the person depicted in the images arguably appears as though he/she could be 18 years old. Another argument centers around the term possession itself. For example, if the image(s) were in some unallocated cache that you didn’t specifically know about or access, then this could negate the possession requirement.
Mitigation, including psychosexual evaluations, also often play an important role in these cases.
If your case involves teenagers and phone images, see our guide to Washington sexting laws.
Western Washington has been cracking down on prostitution related cases recently (as of 2016), and the focus of law enforcement has been to arrest the customers, not the prostitutes. It used to be that these cases were simply referred for diversion so you didn’t have to do much of anything to avoid a conviction. Not anymore. Prosecutors now want you to have a criminal record for this charge. While this is just a simple misdemeanor (as opposed to a more serious gross misdemeanor), a conviction can have very real and dire consequences. We handle a large number of these cases and know the best approach to fight them and avoiding a conviction.
As opposed to promoting prostitution in the first degree, promoting in the second degree is not technically a sex crime. Further, it was traditionally only pursued for what people commonly refer to as “pimps.” While the law is certainly is still applied to alleged pimps, it has recently (as of 2016) been expanded to other activities. For instance, a huge bust occurred in January 2016, charging several men with felonies simply because they visited prostitutes and then went online and wrote reviews about their experiences. This is not the promotion of prostitution as far as we are concerned and if you are charged with this, let us know and we will fight the Prosecution on this every step of the way.
Stings on sex cases are very common and take several different forms. For instance, the police may post an ad online offering prostitution services, or they may be in a chatroom or on an app posing as a minor, or as the parent of a minor offering up their kid for sex. See our page on Prostitution Stings and/or our page covering Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor/Net Nanny Stings for more information.
We made our name defending clients in sting cases with our success in handling the Dateline NBC To Catch A Predator cases, and we are still vigorously fighting these cases to this day.
Client charged with multiple counts of Rape of a Child in the Second and Third Degree. He was facing an indeterminate sentence if convicted at trial, with a minimum range of 17-23 years in prison and the possibility of life in prison. After thoroughly preparing for trial for over two years, the trial itself was a four-week battle with relentless cross-examination of the accuser, exposing countless inconsistencies and severely damaging her credibility. In the end, the jury acquitted our client of all counts.
Possession/Dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Client accused of possession & Dealing. Facing prison, felony sex crime convictions that could never be vacated, and 15 years as a registered sex offender. There was no question the client had illegal images on his devices. That said, through defense investigation and mitigation, we were able to establish that the illicit images and videos were sent to him unsolicited by someone he was communicating with online. He then sought to delete them all at once but ran into a network issue that prevented him from doing so immediately. Nonetheless, we were able to convince the prosecutor to dismiss entirely.
Client charged with two counts of Rape in the Second Degree, by two separate accusers. We took the case over from another law firm that had an offer on the case that would have sent the client to state prison. After working on the case with our defense investigator for two years and fully preparing for trial, including conducting comprehensive defense interviews with all witnesses and both accusers, the state’s case began to unravel. The first count was dropped, and then finally, after dogged persistence, the second count fell as well, and the entire case was dismissed.
Client accused of Rape in the Third Degree — an ex-girlfriend accused the client of rape many months after they broke up. An extensive defense investigation exposed ulterior motives and also produced witnesses who revealed that the accuser had made contradictory statements. We also put together a comprehensive mitigation package with additional witness and character statements, along with a polygraph. In the end, the state had enough information from both sides to make the right call — to decline to file any charges and close out the matter completely.
Client accused of sexual assault by a co-worker. It was someone who was a friend of his, and they had at one point kissed but never had sex. Nonetheless, a complaint was made to HR, which then turned into a police report. We launched our own investigation and provided the state with a trove of communications that served as strong evidence that everything that occurred between the two of them was completely consensual. That, combined with a comprehensive mitigation package, was enough for the prosecutor to decline to file charges.
Client accused of Rape in the Second Degree. After meeting someone online, the client and accuser met up at an Airbnb and proceeded to have a great night out. They went back to the AirBnb and had sex. The client thought all was good the next morning, but she then accused him of rape. He retained our firm, and we got to work. We gathered all relevant messages and media exchanged, reviewed surveillance footage, put together a comprehensive mitigation package, and had our client take a private polygraph test that he passed with flying colors. After reviewing everything in detail, the prosecutor declined to file any charges.
Court and Michelle developed a focus within their practice on representing those accused of sex crimes through their involvement with Dateline NBC’s To Catch A Predator show.
Court was the first attorney in the country to take one of these cases to trial. Read about Court’s success with this first case here.
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