Ask Me Help Desk - Inappropriate touching

Inappropriate touching

This thread prompted me to ask this question. This does not concern me but is of concern to a friend of mine. If a person has been accused of touching someone in a sexual way and has been charged with sexual assault, what are the chances of a person not being convicted if it is the girl's word against theirs. There are three different girls who are accusing this person but it is verbal only there does not appear to be any physical proof.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emery

this thread prompted me to ask this question. This does not concern me but is of concern to a friend of mine. If a person has been accused of touching someone in a sexual way and has been charged with sexual assault, what are the chances of a person not being convicted if it is the girl's word against theirs. There are three different girls who are accusing this person but it is verbal only there does not appear to be any physical proof.

Courts tend to err on the side of the victim. If there are 3 people accusing him, he will VERY likely be convicted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emery

this thread prompted me to ask this question. This does not concern me but is of concern to a friend of mine. If a person has been accused of touching someone in a sexual way and has been charged with sexual assault, what are the chances of a person not being convicted if it is the girl's word against theirs. There are three different girls who are accusing this person but it is verbal only there does not appear to be any physical proof.

Three people accusing him? If they are credible witnesses, he will be convicted - unless, of course, he has iron clad alibis.

This is piggybacked and should stand on its own.

I have moved your question to a thread of it's own. Piggybacking one question on top of another can cause confusion and tend to either not be answered or have the OP's thread hijacked.

Hi, emery!

Would you care to provide additional details as to what this is concerning? For example, are these victims children or adults? What are the specific circumstances, please? There seems to be some pieces missing from the puzzle here, and conjecturing about possibilities as to a conviction or not might depend upon additional information that is provided as to what this is about and the ages of the victims as well as the location where this happened.

Thanks!

Thanks so much, I agree with what you have said and this is what I thought but just wanted to get some opinions from people with experience in criminal law. The person does not have an alibi by the way. If convicted, do you have any idea what the sentence might be?

There is no way to tell what the sentence would be. Each locality has a minimum and a maximum, but we don't know where this took place. It will also depend on the judge, some judges are harder on sentences than others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emery

Thanks so much, I agree with what you have said and this is what I thought but just wanted to get some opinions from people with experience in criminal law. The person does not have an alibi by the way. If convicted, do you have any idea what the sentence might be?

That will depend on many factors such as the degree of touching, the state, the age of the victims, his criminal history, the mood of the judge and how good his lawyer is.

Years with a sex offender registration is best ballpark.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emery

Thanks so much, I agree with what you have said and this is what I thought but just wanted to get some opinions from people with experience in criminal law. The person does not have an alibi by the way. If convicted, do you have any idea what the sentence might be?

Would need info - as others have said - including past criminal history and the circumstances. The State is impotant here - but even with all of that info, it's basically a guess on "our" part. The best and worst scenarios can be posted but those are, again, guesses.

Hello e:

Given the limited information provided, it would be MY opinion that a good lawyer could get him off.

It would also be my opinion that if convicted, he could get YEARS in the slam, and then be followed for the rest of his life.

excon

This is in Ontario, and two of the victims were 16 and I believe the other was an adult. I'm not really sure about the degree of touching however the person was released on their own recognizance awaiting trial for the first charge when the 2nd and 3rd incident occurred.

And the age of the person being charged?

The person is 21 now and was over 18 at the time of all three incidents

Quote:

Originally Posted by emery

the person is 21 now and was over 18 at the time of all three incidents

Im not sure about Canada, but in the US, if he is over 18 and his victims are under, its not likely to end well for him, particularly if he was out on bail (own recognizance) when the incidents occurred.

Was his bail rescinded?

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevetcg

Im not sure about Canada, but in the US, if he is over 18 and his victims are under, its not likely to end well for him, particularly if he was out on bail (own recognizance) when the incidents occurred.

Was his bail rescinded?

In the US the age depends on the state. The age of consent is different in every state.

Yes bail was rescinded and he was kept in jail for three months and the judge finally let him back out on bail with very strict conditions. I don't think the age of consent matters here as the victims were approached by him and they are strangers to him but again this is touching only.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emery

I don't think the age of consent matters here as the victims were approached by him and they are strangers to him but again this is touching only.

They were strangers? Oh, now this draws a new picture!!

More details please regarding new picture

Well, then this can, in some courts, constitute sexual assault and battery.

See here... Sexual Assault - Criminal Law