- Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Being charged with any kind of crime is immensely stressful. After all, your freedom is in jeopardy, but so are your finances and possibly even your career and personal relationships.
Criminal charges take a mental and emotional toll, and few charges have the same impact as sex crime charges do. All too often, people — including close friends and even family members — believe that if you’ve been charged with a sex crime, you are guilty of that crime.
At Greenwood Law, we have a unique understanding of every facet of a sex crime charge, from the laws you allegedly violated to the complex psychological effects a charge like this can have.
Regardless of whether you actually committed the crime or not, you deserve a strong, personalized defense and an attorney who is genuinely committed to defending you. Our criminal defense team is dedicated to defending the rights of every client, no matter how severe the charges against them.
“Sex crimes” is a very broad category of offenses. The most severe sex crimes can result in life in prison without parole, and the most minor of them can carry penalties as low as a few days in jail.
The Kernersville Police Department — as well as the court system as a whole — tends to be harsh on those accused of sex offenses, and often, judges choose longer, more severe sentences when given the chance. Here’s a look at some of the most common sex crime charges our clients face.
This is the most severe sex crime in the state of North Carolina. It’s essentially what it sounds like; if you compel someone to have sexual intercourse against their will through physical force or threat of physical harm, or if you inflict serious physical harm on someone through the act itself, you may be found guilty of forcible rape.
Just like with many other violent crimes, there are several degrees of forcible rape. First-degree forcible rape carries a penalty of 144 months to life in prison with no parole. In general, if you have a prior criminal record (and especially a prior record that includes violent felonies), you’ll receive a more significant penalty.
Many sex crimes, particularly those involving statutory rape, have some gray areas that may work in your favor. Forcible rape charges rarely do. If there is biological evidence tying you to the crime, it may seem next to impossible to fight the charges.
However, our team has extensive experience defending clients against even charges that seem like obvious, open-and-shut cases. For instance, we might be able to successfully have some pieces of evidence excluded from the courtroom.
We also may be able to question the handling of evidence. If the chain of custody of biological evidence is unclear, the jury might reasonably suspect a mix-up. Or if evidence was tested improperly, we may be able to argue that the evidence against you is not reliable enough to bring into a courtroom.
Whatever you do, don’t assume you’ll be found guilty before consulting with us!
“Statutory rape” means that because of the age of the victim, having sexual contact is automatically illegal — even if the victim consented to or even initiated the act. In North Carolina, the age of consent is 16.
There are a range of different types of statutory rape you may be charged with, including these:
As you might imagine, penalties for statutory rape are serious, but they are more severe if the victim is younger. Often, statutory rape charges are less stigmatized than forcible offenses, but they still require you to become a registered sex offender. That kind of registration can significantly limit your opportunities for the future.
This crime is similar to statutory rape. However, it includes any sexual act (and not just sexual intercourse). As a result, it is a slightly lesser offense, but it is still a Class B1 felony.
Like forcible rape, this offense involves using physical force, the threat of physical harm, or committing the offense while assisted by other people. However, it can involve any sexual offense that isn’t sexual intercourse.
If a person commits sexual battery, they forcibly initiate sexual contact against another person’s will. It also includes sexual contact with a person who falls into any of these categories:
If you are accused of sexual battery against someone who is mentally or physically unable to consent, you must have known (or should have known) of the person’s mental or physical handicap. This part of the law can be somewhat subjective, and your defense team may be able to use that ambiguity to your advantage in court.
Whether you are a stepparent, daycare worker, or other person trusted to care for children, you have a duty to keep them safe. If you violate that duty by engaging in sexual contact with one of those children, you may be charged with sexual activity by a substitute parent or custodian.
Teachers are in a special position of trust. As a result, sexual activity with a student is categorized as its own offense. If you’re convicted of sexual activity with a student, the minimum penalty is 300 months in prison.
An arrest for any kind of sex crime may be reported by the media, but charges of sexual activity with a student tend to be especially publicized. For example, in 2018, local news reported extensively on an East Forsyth High School teacher’s arrest for sexual activity with a student and indecent liberties with a student.
In our years of criminal defense experience, we’ve seen people facing charges make two serious mistakes: they either delay seeking legal representation because they are ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid of being judged or don’t tell their attorneys the entire truth of the alleged crime because they want to portray themselves in a better light.
If you’re facing something as serious as a sex crimes charge, it is absolutely crucial to find competent legal representation as soon as you can. The earlier you get in touch with us to schedule a free consultation, the faster we can get to work on your case.
Our team can carefully comb through the prosecution’s case against you to look for weaknesses, and we also will assemble every piece of evidence we can find to argue for your innocence.
It’s also extremely important to tell us the whole truth of what happened. We are not here to judge you. Our goal is the same as yours: to see you acquitted of all charges. If that proves to be impossible, we will fight to minimize the impact of a conviction on your life.
If you’ve been arrested and charged with a sex crime, we urge you to call us or get in touch online to book a free initial consultation. The team at Greenwood Law is here for you!
