The five-point argument outlined in this article has been preserved in a failure to register case under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act at 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a).

How We Handled a Sexsomnia Case Douglas Peters and Robert Rubin April 2013 18 Introduction Most child molestation cases fit into one of two broad categories. In the first category, the client admits he 1 intentionally committed the act of which he is accused. He may admit he has a problem and...

At sentencing, defense lawyers do not listen closely as the judge reads the standard and special conditions of supervised release. As a result, lawyers frequently do not object to any special conditions. John Rhodes and Dan Donovan believe that the time is ripe to object to, and litigate, special conditions of supervised release, particularly in sex offense cases. Some circuits have limited or rejected certain special conditions for sex offenders. The authors provide tips that will help defense counsel prevent unreasonable and unconstitutional special conditions of supervised release.

In an attempt to find child predators, police officers visit Internet chat rooms and pretend to be underage. When arrested in these sting operations, most defendants plead guilty. But the chat room is a world of sexual fantasy. Did the defendant believe he was communicating with another adult who was pretending to be a child within the sexually charged atmosphere of an adult chat room?

Particularly in child sex cases, success lies in preparation. It may be tempting for a lawyer to pass a case alleging a child sex offense to another lawyer who has more experience in handling such cases. While experience is important, a lawyer prepared to spend the time and resources researching the facts and background information and thoughtfully analyzing the issues can successfully defend cases that may initially appear hopeless. Kathleen Stilling provides a basic plan for preparing, analyzing, and investigating child sex cases.

California and New York have passed “yes means yes” laws that apply to college campus disciplinary proceedings when a sexual assault has been alleged. These laws may result in an accused person having to prove innocence.

While United States v. Paroline likely will result in victims bringing an increased number of restitution claims in federal child pornography prosecutions, in that case the U.S. Supreme Court reined in expectations for victims anticipating a windfall. Public defender David Bungard offers practice tips to help defense attorneys successfully negotiate or dispute the merits of a restitution claim.

Motion practice plays a critical role in establishing the parameters of the defense and prosecution cases when child sex abuse has been alleged. Defense attorneys must consider how they can use motions to gather information, provide critical testimony to the jury, and prevent the prosecution from using inadmissible or improper evidence to taint the fairness of the trial. Demands for exculpatory evidence should be specific and grounded in the facts.

NACDL and its affiliates opposed ABA Resolution 114 because it called for legislatures to adopt laws that would significantly alter the law with respect to sexual assault crimes.

The goal of forensic interviewing is to ensure that statements from a child accuser are obtained in an unbiased manner. Social scientists have performed experiments to pinpoint how to minimize child suggestibility. To attack a forensic interview, defense lawyers should do the following: (1) become familiar with the jurisdiction’s protocols for forensic interviews, (2) examine statutes and rules regarding protocols and admissibility of child witness statements, (3) engage an expert and identify places where the protocols were not followed, (4) move to suppress when the protocols were not followed, and (5) decide how to highlight the failure of the forensic interviewer.

A psychosexual evaluation (PSE) is an important tool in the resolution of many sexual misconduct cases. A PSE is an empirically informed assessment of a client’s sexual development, sexual history, paraphilic or deviant interests, and risk of becoming a repeat offender. The evaluation should identify any treatment needs and propose a treatment plan. The evaluation also can pose risks of new criminal charges, however, and thus can negatively affect the outcome of a case. Knowing what the client will disclose enables the attorney to advise the client whether to go forward with the evaluation, refuse the evaluation, or refuse to answer certain questions. The conversations necessary to prepare a client for a PSE are not easy or quick or pleasant, but they are essential to effective representation.

Almost 80 years old, Ruth Johns said earlier this year, “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be around to take care of my son.” Ruth’s son, Guy Randolph, is schizophrenic. He was also a child molester. Guy insisted that he had not committed the crime for which he was convicted: molesting a six-year-old girl at knifepoint in Roslindale, Mass., on New Year’s Eve in 1990. Ruth believed in her son’s innocence and fought to have his name cleared. I was assigned to be Guy’s court-appointed attorney in November 2005, 15 years after his arrest. When we met, Guy had served 10 years in prison and had been living with his mother for five more as a “high risk” registered sex offender. My job was to investigate whether or not this man had been wrongfully convicted.

Forensic computer examiners glean information from computers to assist attorneys in arguing their cases. The forensic computer examiner's greatest challenge is having the proper information that will expose the flaws in the opposition's case. The police and the prosecution make mistakes, and thus defense attorneys should always consider challenging the evidence. Errors in the investigative process might include inaccurate chain of custoody resports, failure to consider exculpatory evidence, and failure to vailidate the results from forensic, software. Obtaining the proper discovery for the forensiccomputer examiner is critical tofinding the smoking gun.