The Best Strategy if You're Charged with a Violation Of Penal Code Section 288.5 – Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child. This is one of the more severe crimes, and if you've allegedly done several different acts with a child. If the child is under the age of 14 and there are more than ten years between you and the child, you can bet the prosecutors are going to come at you with guns a-blazing.

They're going to want to put you away for life in prison if they possibly can, and that means they're going to charge you with this California Penal Code Section 288.5. You're, and you're looking at a potential sentence of 15 to life, possibly, even more, depending on precisely what they're claiming that you did (CALCRIM 1120).

Insufficient Evidence

So, we need to defend some of these cases because a person is innocent.  One defense is, maybe you didn't do what they're claiming, and they don't have any physical evidence that you did it,

Also, they don't have any proof by way of a SART exam showing that the child in question was abused, and they don't have any witnesses to tie you into using any child.  So, that would undoubtedly be one defense.

In most of these cases where you're being charged with such a severe crime, people consider testifying because they want to make sure they tell their side of the story since they're risking potentially going to prison for potentially 15 years to life.

Review of Evidence That Supports You

So, one of the things that we do as part of the defense is talk to you about exactly how we're going to present the evidence that supports you and talk about how you're going to withstand cross-examination by the prosecutors.

They're going to have questions, and they're going to look for inconsistencies in your story and confront you with the evidence that they do have related to their claim that you somehow sexually assaulted a child.

It's not just one time.  To get this Penal Code Section, you've got to do it at least three times.  So, they're going to have to prove three separate incidences against you.  So obviously want to sit down with your attorney and make sure that you get your defense together.

False Accusation

Another potential defense that I've seen utilized successfully is that the person accusing you of sexually assaulting a child multiple times is somebody who has an ax to grind and motive to lie against you.

For example, an ex-spouse or ex-girlfriend or somebody may be angry with you, trying to gain the upper hand in a divorce — there's a whole host of different reasons people make things up against another person.

So, that's something that we would want to sit down, talk about, strategize and make the best decision moving forward as it relates to your defense.

Also, we want to make sure that you want to defend and fight the prosecutors if you are charged with this offense. Because if you're guilty and they've got evidence that you did something wrong — maybe you admitted it, for example — it's not a good idea to fight them.

It's just going to anger them and put them in a position where they will try to get a lengthy prison sentence against you.  So, we want to make sure that it makes sense to fight the case before doing that. Otherwise, you're going to put yourself in a much worse position.

Sex Crime Defense Lawyer in California

So, what I have you do is sit down and talk about the best strategy.  I'm going to help you make the decision, but I have to have your input because you're the one that will suffer any consequences of a conviction.

So, if you need help or a loved one needs help, and they're in custody right now, pick up the phone.  Make the call.  Let's talk about it, and I will do everything I can to help you move forward.

Hedding Law Firm is a top-ranked criminal defense law firm located in Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.