Arrested and accused of rape, sexual assault in Texas?
Here’s what you need to know if you or a member of your family has been arrested and accused of rape or sexual assault.
Houston criminal defense attorney Neal Davis is among the top 10% of licensed attorneys who are Board-Certified, representing the best in the field.
With his extensive experience defending the rights of the accused, he can answer your questions. In the high-stakes world of criminal defense, having a Board-Certified attorney could mean the difference between freedom and incarceration.
What should you do if you are arrested and accused of rape?
Under Texas law, what is known as rape in other states is deemed sexual assault, but the offense remains basically the same. And if you are arrested and accused of sexual assault, you must be careful to quickly take certain actions and precautions.
First, you must take any accusation, allegation, claim or charge of a sex crime very seriously, and then strive to get the best legal help you can find. That means engaging a knowledgeable and skilled defense lawyer to stand up for your legal rights.
A sexual assault defense attorney who represents you should advise you to remain silent when dealing with police in order to avoid self-incrimination. At the least, your defense lawyer should be by your side to advise you during any police interview.
Your defense lawyer also can gather and preserve evidence to help your defense. That may include finding social media posts by the alleged victim which might refute claims of an attack.
Depending on the nature and circumstances of the case, your rape defense attorney may even be able to keep a charge from being filed against you, negotiate the dismissal of a charge against you, have a charge reduced in severity or negotiate a plea deal in order to lessen the punishment.
How harsh or severe are Texas sex crime punishments?
Such steps are vital when you consider how harsh or severe Texas sex crime punishments can be.
Under Texas sex crime laws, sexual assault is a second-degree felony that can lead to a prison sentence of two to 20 years upon conviction and a fine of as much as $10,000.
How does Texas classify crimes? What are the sentencing guidelines for felonies vs. misdemeanors?
Sex crimes involving children are even worse when it comes to punishments in Texas. Such crimes can result in a life sentence in prison, or technically up to 99 years in state prison. This can occur notably for the crime of continuous sexual abuse of a child or for deviate sexual intercourse involving a child.
What happens to reputations in sex crime cases?
A person’s reputation can be severely damaged when they are accused of a sex crime. Employment opportunities may be lost, and standing in a community can be ruined. This can be true even if a claim was false and the defendant later is exonerated or found not guilty.
Damages to a reputation can be worse when a high-profile person is accused and the allegations are spread across news media and social media.
Take the case of British actor and comedian Russell Brand, who was accused by several women last year of rape, sexual abuse, sexual assaults and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013.
Four women made such allegations after an investigation by England’s The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.
The Times said other women also have made “a range of accusations” about controlling and predatory behavior by Brand, whom they accused of physical and emotional abusive, sexual harassment and bullying.
Brand has denied the allegations and has insisted that his sexual relationships with women have all been consensual.
The four women said they felt ready to speak only after being approached by reporters. Several said they felt compelled to speak out given Brand’s new prominence as an online wellness influencer, with millions of followers on YouTube and other sites.
The Times and The Sunday Times gave Brand eight days to reply to the detailed allegations. Brand’s lawyers at first said they were not in a position to provide any response to the allegations because the newspaper had posed a “large litany of questions” and had chosen to keep the women’s identities anonymous.
His attorneys characterized the report as part of a pre-conceived strategy aimed at damaging their client. They said that the publication was waging a “concerted campaign,” and their client believed there was a “deeply concerning agenda to all this, namely the fact that he is an alternative media broadcaster competing with mainstream media.”
Pressed to provide a full response, the same lawyers did not reply.
When given another chance to respond, Brand broadcast a statement on his YouTube channel saying “amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute”. He claimed his sexual relationships had always been consensual and accused the mainstream media of a coordinated attack.
Brand said there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the women’s narratives. The Sunday Times asked his lawyers for such evidence but said no answer was provided.
So far no formal charges have been made against Brand, and his case remains in the so-called court of public opinion.
TV’s Chris Hardwick faced false sex crime claims
Chris Hardwick, another prominent person who works principally in TV, was fired from his TV hosting jobs after he faced allegations of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Yet not long after the allegations were made, Hardwick was found to be innocent of such claims, and his standing in the entertainment industry was restored.
Investigations into his sex crimes determined that his ex-girlfriend, who had made the claims without naming him, had no facts to back up her allegations. Hardwick also received strong support from persons who knew him personally and professionally.
In addition, it was found that the ex-girlfriend had begged him in texts to take her back. This hardly supported her case that he had been abusive.
Nonetheless, the damage was initially done when Hardwick was accused of a sex crime.
Such accusations have become more numerous with the advent of the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged women to speak out about sexual offenses they had not reported previously.
While these claims often are legitimate, they aren’t always true. Yet false allegations have led to men being quickly considered guilty in social media and even by employers, long before they have had their Constitutional right to due process.
Get an experienced sex crime defense attorney
Given the seriousness of a sex crime claim or charge and the possible punishments to follow, it is vital that you get an experienced sex crime defense attorney or lawyer to protect your legal rights.
Neal Davis has the knowledge, skill and experience to handle such cases, as he has done for many clients in the Houston area, including Sugar Land, Katy, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Conroe and elsewhere in Harris County, Fort Bend County and Montgomery County, Texas.
Alert the Neal Davis Law Firm today about an accusation of rape or sexual assault, and get the legal help you need to defend your rights.
Child sex offenses: Houston sex crime defense
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