Sexual Assault Of a Minor Criminal Defense

The other common pattern in Article 120(b) Sexual Assault of Minor charges, concerns a female child making an allegation of sexual assault or sexual abuse against her step-father. In these cases, the allegations typically involve a minor female child coming forward and alleging that her step-father sexually abused her over a significant period of time. These cases can be overwhelming to defend if you don’t have a seasoned court martial lawyer.

The allegations are often made in households where the accused and his wife (the biological mother) have decidedly different sets of rules and standards for the girl. The girl oftentimes wants to either break up the marriage or live only with her biological mother, who is often much less strict than the step-father. The allegations are often made to a teacher, a school friend, a family member, or directly to the mother—and once they are made, a train gets put into motion that is often hard to stop.

Immediately after the allegation is made, law enforcement typically has the alleged victim submit to a child forensic interview given by a trained child interviewer employed at a Children’s Justice Center. These interviews are almost always videotaped, done in conjunction with law enforcement, and conducted with a pre-set agenda to obtain evidence to convict the accused.

It is all eyes on the accuser and none on the accused. In addition to the child forensic interview, the alleged victim is typically given a sexual assault forensic examination, known as a SAFE, a thorough documentation of any signs of bruising, vaginal tearing or penetration, or other evidence of sexual activity. At this stage, samples are also collected for DNA and serology testing.

Child Protective Services is then notified and the accused is usually taken out of the house and has his children taken away from him pending the outcome of the trial. The alleged victim will then be seen by a series of government funded child psychologists and victim advocates who will help shape her story and testimony for trial.

At trial, all of the individuals committed to convicting the accused—the law enforcement forensic interviewer, the sexual assault nurse examiner, the child psychologists, the “counter-intuitive behavior” experts, the government’s DNA and serology experts, and the best prosecutors the military has—will be present to do so. With equal zeal, this hit squad will likely press for a conviction requiring registration as a child sexual offender and request decades or more of confinement. Making matters worse, the accused may be detailed a military defense attorney who has never tried a child sexual assault case and requests for defense expert witnesses are denied.

Bilecki Law Group understands, from experience, that these cases are won or lost on the credibility of the alleged victim—her motives for fabricating the charges—and the physical and forensic evidence that supports a story of innocence. These cases require extensive investigations conducted by trained defense investigators, independent defense expert consultants, unbiased witnesses, and a complete understanding on how to utilize all of the defense evidence during the pre-charging representation, the Article 32 hearing, motions practice, and at trial.