This is a big question on many people's minds who find out the police are investigating them; the FBI, or whatever law enforcement agency is involved with their case.
Or a lot of times, the reason they get tipped off pre-filing is that the alleged victim in the case calls them, texts them, accuses them of some sexual assault or sexual behavior, or even at the time that they have an encounter with that person, they're charged with some sort of sexual assault.
So, they know, and they realize they have to call an attorney right away. I could be in trouble here.
Another way they find out is because somebody posts something on the internet. I'm seeing that a lot lately where someone's accusing somebody of some sexual assault-like behavior, and they post it on the internet.
So, that person finds out about it. Their friends tell them or see it themselves, so now they realize I may need a defense attorney here.
Negotiation to Avoid Formal Filing of Charges
So, the answer to why you hire a criminal defense attorney to defend you if you're being looked at or investigated for a sex crime has several different tentacles to it.
First and foremost, you got in real trouble, and you're not going to be able to handle it yourself. You're not used to defending a sex crime. So obviously, you're going to want to get someone who can support a sex crime, knows what to do, knows what arguments to make.
You need a lawyer that knows how to deal with the police and advise you, and I'm going to tell you one of the first pieces of advice is not to talk to the police and let them do the talking for you and act as a buffer between you and the police.
Another reason I would get a criminal defense sex crime attorney — especially if your case is in Los Angeles — is because your defense attorney can do some investigation before the claim is filed.
Often, I've been able to investigate and lock in witnesses and lock in defense before the case is ever filed. Another thing that I'm able to do sometimes, depending on the circumstances of the matter, is to convince the police and prosecutors that you shouldn't be charged with a sex crime in the first place.
This is because we do the work and then provide the information to show them that the alleged victim is not telling the truth. More facts can be uncovered.
Avoid Making Incriminating Statements
I think the last and most important thing about why you should hire a sex crime criminal defense attorney, especially if you have a case in Los Angeles to defend your pre-filing, is that you don't do or say anything to incriminate yourself.
I can't tell you how often people get attacked by the police and prosecutors, which triggers them to do or say something that ends up being the best evidence against them in a criminal case.
One of the biggest weapons the police have, when they decide to arrest a person a lot of times, they'll get a search warrant. If they're looking for something that might help corroborate their case, the most significant thing they're trying to do is scare the person to death so they will make some statement they can later use to incriminate them.
They will confront them with facts surrounding the case. They will engage them with their behavior, then many people — because they're nervous; they're scared; they've never been in that position before.
They don't have an attorney who has advised them properly. They do or say something that incriminates them, or people will start shutting accounts down; they will start trying to hide evidence, and that in and of itself is evidence that that person committed the sex crime.
Contact Our Law Firm for Help
Why are you out hiding evidence if you've got nothing to hide? Why are you hiding evidence in a sex crime case in Los Angeles if you didn't do anything wrong? That's what the prosecutors will argue to a potential jury in the case.
So, if you're smart, your best bet is to make sure that you hire a criminal defense attorney right away and let that attorney do the job necessary to get you the result you must have.