Sexual assault allegations are extremely serious and will have lifelong consequences. Your reputation and potentially your freedom are on the line. If you are falsely accused of sexual assault, you must contact an experienced Carrollton sexual assault attorney to help defend you from any allegations. This is a call that you cannot afford to delay.
Initial Reactions and Immediate Steps
If you are facing sexual assault charges or allegations, you mustn’t make any mistakes early in the case that can harm your legal defense. Never speak to law enforcement without your attorney present. If you do not have a sexual assault attorney, you must get one immediately to protect your rights and help you tell your side of the story.
Legal Implications of Sexual Assault in Georgia
There are several different types of sexual assaults in Georgia:
- Sexual battery is when one intentionally makes physical contact with another person’s intimate body parts without that person’s consent.
- Aggravated sexual battery is when a person intentionally penetrates a sex organ or the anus of another person with a foreign object without that person’s consent.
- Sexual assault is sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the victim.
Sexual assault is charged as a felony in Georgia, and it is punished severely. If you are convicted of sexual assault, you can face between one and 25 years in prison. If the alleged victim was under the age of 16, the penalty will rise to 25 to 50 years in prison. Either way, you could be facing serious consequences if you are convicted of a sex offense.
Potential Long-Term Effects on Personal and Professional Life
Sexual assault charges can destroy your reputation, even if you are eventually able to clear your name. Details of what is alleged to have happened can become public and make the rest of your life more difficult.
If you are convicted of a sex offense, you may have to register as a sex offender. You may then have difficulty finding a job or residence. Employers would be able to see a conviction on a background check, potentially preventing your opportunity to land a job. The same holds even after you have served a jail sentence.
Your personal life may also be clouded by sexual assault allegations. When word gets out about allegations, you may find that you lose friends, and you may feel isolated. Sexual assault allegations come with a stigma that could follow you for the rest of your life.
How To Prove Your Innocence When Falsely Accused
Although you are innocent until proven guilty, you may still need to prove that you did not commit the crime. There is often a rush to convict accused sex offenders, both in an actual court and in public opinion.
You may have an urge to clear your name, but it is crucial that you are extremely careful and do not make mistakes, such as trying to contact your accuser or post publicly on social media about the situation.
The best thing you can do to prove your innocence is contact an experienced criminal defense attorney. Your lawyer may get involved in the investigative phase of the case, speaking informally to the prosecutor when they are considering filing charges. Your lawyer could help you fight the charges at trial when you have a defense or the prosecutor lacks the evidence to win a conviction.
Contact an Experienced Carrollton Criminal Defense Attorney
If you are facing sexual assault charges and allegations, contact an experienced Carrolton sexual assault attorney at Moffitt Law, LLC to learn more about your legal rights and what you may have to deal with in the future. You can schedule a free initial consultation with an attorney by calling us today at 762-200-2924 or by sending us a message through our website. Waiting too long can put you in more legal jeopardy.