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Both as a prosecutor and as a criminal defense attorney I have tried well over 40 cases to verdict as the only attorney or as I say, sole chair or first chair. So there are a number of different cases that stand out to me in my years of practicing. I did recently have a case where a client was originally charged with some domestic violence and they ultimately amended the charges to include rape, sexual assault, and something we call involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, as well as a strangulation charge.
And we had a jury trial that went on for over a week and through cross examination of the witness who my client had been dating for about a year and a half before the allegations were made, we were able to show that her story just did not add up. We had video from a pool hall. We had video from the criminal justice center. We had multiple statements that she made. We had text message threads that my client kept between them that just completely contradicted the nature of the relationship between the two parties.
And I was able to confront her with a bunch of evidence that was in black and white where it was the text messages, the videos from the pool hall or from the criminal justice center that contradicted her story enough that when it came time for the jury to deliberate to reach a verdict, she simply was not a credible witness. And she did have some minor bruises on her person when she went to the police a few days later so my client was convicted of simple assault. But when you’re facing a possible 20-40-year sentence on rape and strangulation and you’re not looking at a misdemeanor second-degree simple assault where you’re looking at probation or perhaps house arrest, that’s a huge win for a client and that’s one that stands out to me.
Philadelphia, PA criminal defense attorney Brian Fishman talks about a memorable case in which he was able to clear his client of a rape charge.