Sexual assault charges must be factually investigated by defense counsel to assure that the victim is not fabricating a story to get the accused in trouble. Other reasons for incorrect sexual assault charges may involve exaggeration by the victim or by the police concerning the victim’s account of what happened, incorrect identity if the assailant is a stranger or any number of bad motives on the part of the victim. In Arkansas, a man was recently arrested for promoting prostitution, trafficking a person and sexual assault.
The charges stem from the man’s contact with a 14-year-old girl who told police that the suspect introduced her to prostitution during the March 20 weekend. The girl was allegedly spending the night at the home of another woman in Fayetteville. She told police that she was intoxicated for most of the weekend and that the defendant drove her to several different places to have sex with men.
Critical evidence against the defendant allegedly exists in the form of text messages to the girl from the defendant that, according ot the police, was grooming the girl for prostitution. Police say that the man told her that he would get half of her earnings. The defendant reportedly told police that the messages contained only advice and nothing else. The defendant has a prior history of criminal activity, according to the police.
Defense counsel must check out the story and version of each side to see which comes out more credible. If the defendant was not actually serious about the prostitution text messages, the language may be ambiguous enough to cast doubt in the cross-examination of the victim. Furthermore, counsel must confirm whether the victim will cooperate all the way and whether she will testify at trial – other than the few text messages that may stand as independent evidence, this Arkansas prosecution appears as though it will depend heavily on the testimony of the victim, both for the trafficking and the sexual assault charges.
Source: thecabin.net, “Conway PD arrests former Razorback for sex crimes”, Jessica Hauser, March 31, 2015