Child Sexual Abuse Defense Lawyer
What penal codes cover child sexual abuse charges in California?
If you are under investigation for child sexaul abuse, you need a Los Angeles Sex Crime Lawyer. In California, child sexual abuse is covered under various sections of the Penal Code. Some of the most commonly charged sections include:
- Penal Code 288(a): Lewd acts with a child.
- Penal Code 261.5: Unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor
- Penal Code 286: Sodomy with a child
- Penal Code 288(b)(1): Continuous sexual abuse of a child
- Penal Code 269: Aggravated sexual assault of a child
- Penal Code 647.6: Annoying or molesting a child
It is important to note that these Penal Code sections are severe and carry significant criminal penalties upon conviction. Additionally, a conviction for child sexual abuse can result in being placed on the sex offender registry and damaging personal and professional relationships.
If you have been accused of child sexual abuse in California, it is essential to seek the advice of an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. An attorney can advise on the specific charges you may be facing and the best defense strategy for your case.
Sexual abuse is an extremely serious crime and could potentially result in very long jail sentences. We are experienced and aggressive child Sexual Abuse Criminal Lawyers and could defend you in any court including Los Angeles, Pasadena, Glendale, and Van Nuys. Child abuse charges are filed pursuant to California Penal Code Sections 288(a).
What are the penalties for violation of California Penal Code 288?
Penalties for violation of California Penal Code 288 (Lewd Acts with a Child) can vary depending on the specific circumstances of the case.
If convicted of a violation of Penal Code 288(a), the defendant can face:
- Felony conviction: Lewd acts with a child is a felony-level offense in California and carries a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison.
- Sex offender registration: If convicted, the defendant may be required to register as a sex offender under California law.
- Restitution: The defendant may be ordered to pay restitution to the victim for any financial losses they incurred as a result of the crime.
It is important to note that the penalties for a violation of Penal Code 288 can vary depending on the specific circumstances of the case and the defendant’s prior criminal history. An experienced criminal defense attorney can advise on the specific penalties you may face and the best defense strategy for your case.
Child under the age of 14
If the child was under the age of 14 and no force, violence, or threat of force was used in the commission of the crime, the defendant could be sentenced to 3, 6, or 8 years. If force or a weapon was used but the child was not injured, defendant could get 10 years, but if the victim was injured, conviction could result in life in prison.
Child between the ages of 14 and 15
If the child was 14 or 15 years old and defendant was at least 10 years older than the child, maximum prison term would be 3 years pursuant to California Penal Code 288(C)(1). This crime is also a wobbler. So, your attorney may be able to get to a misdemeanor for which the maximum jail time is only 1 year.
Child between the ages of 16 and 17
Here, there is more leniency specially if the defendant is also a minor or very young. Your lawyer could plea bargain this down to a misdemeanor sexual battery pursuant to California Penal Code 243.4 for which the maximum jail time is 1 year. If age is the only issue under the set of facts and circumstances, a serious sexual abuse charge could be reduced to statutory rape per California Penal Code Section 261.5.
Child Sexual Abuse Criminal Lawyer
For a free consultation, Call 213-252-1000
Types of False accusation of Sexual Abuse:
1. Absolutely False Accusation of Sexual Abuse:
If none of what the alleged victim is saying occurred, the allegation is completely false. Based on our criminal defense experience, there could be various types of motives to fabricate a story or lie to the investigating officers. For instance, an allegation that starts by a child student telling a story could have been triggered for the simple reason of getting back at a teacher, because he made fun of the student. An Employee could make a false report of sexual molestation simply because her employer denied her the requested vacation or refused to pay her a raise. Sometimes, completely false allegations are brought against an innocent person in order to gain economic advantage from the government or to resolve an internal family problem. Parents who have great mental and psychological control over their children could convince a child to make up a story based on facts that didn’t occur at all. Stories could also be fabricated for the purposes of extortion or blackmail.
2. Partially False Accusation of Sexual Abuse.
Sometimes, a child or a person may report incidents that did occur but change them in a way that make the acts criminal. Simple instances of touching could be reported as fondling. A friendly kiss could be interpreted and reported as a kiss on the lip for the purpose of sexual gratification. An employer’s brush against a female employee’s chest could be regarded and reported as the suspect’s attempt to grab her breast. On other occasions, the accused may in fact have engaged in some type of illegal touching of the victim in a sexual manner. But the victim blows it out of proportion and invents things that didn’t happen. A kiss on the lips could be reported as using force to restrain the victim, or even an attempted rape. The alleged victim could report that she was extremely scared and thought that she was definitely about to be raped. For Criminal Defense Lawyers, these cases are unfortunately harder to defend. Jurors often tend to blind themselves as to things that didn’t occur, since the accused did in fact commit an illegal sexual act against the victim.
3. True Accusation, but the Wrong Person:
It is not uncommon for children and even adults to come up with stories of actual and real sexual abuse that did in fact occur, but the crime was not perpetrated by the named suspect. These accusations stem from hate and revenge. If there has been an ongoing animosity between two adults and at some point one gets sexually abused by someone else, one of the adults may fabricate a story and make a very convincing story that the named suspect was in fact the one who committed the sex crime. The suspect, under his scenario, is completely innocent but is going to have a very hard time proving it. Sometimes this is referred to as “perpetrator substitution”, especially when the alleged victim is a child.
Child Sexual Abuse Defense Attorney
Motive or Reasons to Fabricate a Sex Crime Story:
Allegations of sexual Abuse in stories told by children: False accusations can be prompted, aggravated or perpetuated by law enforcement, child protection or prosecution officials who become convinced of the guilt of the accused. Here are some very common motives or reasons why children falsely accuse someone of sexual abuse. These are based on actual court cases that our criminal defense lawyers have handled:
a. A false allegation arising spontaneously due to mental illness of the accuser.
b. Slowly developing accusation resulting from deliberate or accidental suggestive questioning by a detective, a social worker, a teacher, or a parent. Children tend to agree and follow the adults questioning and the answers they expect to hear from the child. This is sometimes because the child is too shy to say otherwise, or seeks attention and wants to please the questioning adult. Another factor may be fear of being physically, emotionally or mentally abused by the person interrogating the child. Even expectation of being rewarded for agreeing with a detective, could prompt the child to answer a question in a way that pleases that person.
c. Coaching of the child is probably one of the most common reasons why children go along with a false story and recite facts and events based on total imagination and invention. The more submissive a child is and has been, the easier it is to coach him. Supervising adults take advantage of their power, or for their own ulterior motives coach a child well enough to comfortably tell a story that seems believable.
d. Sometimes the reason for why false accusation are brought against the accused at all is that the assigned detective or social worker or other official is convinced that the abuse did in fact occur and a decision has already been made by them to file charges. Once any steps are taken to justify the decision that the accused is guilty, it becomes very difficult for the official to accept disconfirming evidence, and this can continue during investigation, jury trial, a new trial, appeal or any other effort to revisit a verdict of guilty.
e. False reports are more common in custody disputes. Children appear to rarely make up false allegations of their own accord, but will make false allegations if coercively questioned by individuals who believe abuse has occurred and refuse to accept a child’s statement that he or she wasn’t abused. On other occasions, a child may believe that if he doesn’t go along with his story, he may lose a parent. So, he may be predisposed to say anything that serves the purpose of staying with a parent of his own choosing.
Child Sexual Abuse Defense Lawyer
Denial of Sexual Abuse by the Accused:
Guilty or not, an accused almost always denies that any sexual abuse occurred. As a criminal defense attorney, we need to study the case focusing on what exactly is going through our client’s head. We may need to order psychological evaluations to determine whether any part of the report made by the alleged victim is true. Reality is not easily accepted by an accused. This makes a criminal defense attorney’s job extremely sensitive in developing a defense strategy that best helps our client.
False retractions
False retractions of accusations by children who have been abused are suggested to occur for one or more of several reasons: out of shame or embarrassment, fear of being sent to a foster home, due to the reaction of adults leading them to feel their behavior was “wrong” or “bad”, a desire to protect the perpetrator who may be a close family member, fear of destroying the family, coaching by an adult family member insisting the child withdraw the accusation, and more. False retractions are less common when the child receives timely and appropriate support following the statement of the allegation.
Effect of False Accusations on the Accused:
Allegations of sexual abuse can be inherently traumatic when false. A person falsely charged with sexual abuse often faces numerous problems of their own. The heinous nature of the crime leveled at them often evokes an overwhelming sense of betrayal. In highly publicized cases, the general public has a strong tendency to summarily assume the accused is guilty, leading to very serious social stigma. The accused, even if acquitted, risks being fired from their job, losing their friends and other relationships, having their property vandalized, and being harassed by those believing them to be guilty.
Have you been arrested and accused of child sexual abuse? Our lawyers will fight for you. Our Criminal Defense Attorneys will use their expertise to prove you innocent if you are falsely accused of the crime. For a free consultation, CALL NOW 213-252-1000
Criminal prosecution can affect your health, freedom, employment, and social life. You need help and you need the best criminal defense you can get. At the Law Offices of Tony M. Seyfi, with the state of the art computerized legal research tools and forensic techniques, we will focus on identifying the defenses you may have and will develop numerous challenges to any crime possible.
Our goal is victory for our clients and to keep them from going to jail, and we are confident of our defense strategies. If you would like to discuss your case, call us today for a FREE CONSULTATION and case analysis.
