If you’ve been charged with a sex crime, you have the right to a defense. How you defend yourself can make or break your case. There are several common defense techniques that you can consider, and finding the right one for your situation can help you get your penalties reduced or the charges dropped completely.
The first, and most obvious, choice for defending yourself against criminal charges is saying and proving that you didn’t do it. In the United States, you are innocent until proven guilty, which means the burden of proof is on the prosecution. If the prosecution doesn’t have much evidence or has no real proof that you were present during a crime, you may be able to win your case. In the case of sexual assault, evidence would be DNA, photos or videos, or witnesses in most cases.
If you have an alibi, this can greatly help your case. When the crime took place, where were you? Were you at a mall where security footage will show you weren’t at the scene of the crime? Were you with a friend? Were you eating dinner with a date? Having this kind of evidence can help you prove you weren’t where the prosecution is claiming you were.
You can also claim that you did commit a crime but shouldn’t be held responsible for it. This can be a good way to defend yourself if you’re accused of assault or other physical crimes. Why? If you can prove you were defending yourself against someone attacking you, then you can prove it was self-defense and that you acted reasonably in the situation. An example would be if a person hit you, so you kicked him or her in order to try and give yourself time to run for help.
Source: FindLaw, “Defending Yourself Against a Criminal Charge,” accessed June 15, 2015