Sex Crimes Attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sexual Criminal Conduct Case – More Challenging

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It is more difficult, and yet, it is easier. So there is a two-fold answer to your question. I’ll give the question that you didn’t answer first. It’s actually easier in this area for a scary reason, and that is because there needs to be virtual – there needs to be very little evidence in this area before a charge is brought. If a child comes forward and says this happened, or if an ex-girlfriend or an ex-wife comes forward and says this happened, as a general rule, it is going to be charged, period, the end, and that is because there need be no corroboration. We don’t need DNA; we don’t need injury; we don’t need witnesses, and of course, there are never witnesses to these types of offenses, or there are very, very rarely witnesses to these types of offenses.

But the – and it’s a good thing. By the way, I’m not complaining about this. Forty years ago, in the Dark Ages, prosecutors and police officers didn’t take sexual abuse accusations are seriously as they should have, and there were lots of problems, but from that day to this, the pendulum has swung so far that all that you need is an accusation and it will be charged.

And so a lot of these cases are easy to try, but for the emotional reaction of the public and the jury pool, and so that gets to what’s difficult about these. And what is difficult about these is that the presumption of innocence is very hard to be brought home to roost. It is very difficult to get jurors – you know that – I mean, I cannot get people at a cocktail party to pay any attention to the concept of presumption of innocence when it comes to sexual assault accusations.

People have strong feelings. They don’t wanna hear about it. And right-thinking people may feel that way in a cocktail party setting. I have no problem with that. I’m probably the same way. However, when you get into a courtroom – and the difficult thing about these cases is getting a jury to really pay homage to the sacred constitutional principle of presumption of innocence, even in this most terrible of accusation.

Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Kevin Short shares how criminal sexual conduct cases are difficult to defend.

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