A Washington man, who spent 10 years in prison after being convicted of rape charges filed by his daughter, is now a free man after the daughter recanted the charges. This should serve as a cautionary tale to law enforcement officers and prosecutors about the dangers of blind faith in a child’s testimony during any sex crime case.

For Thomas Kennedy, this day has been a long time coming. In 2001, his then-11-year-old daughter Cassandra, informed police that her father raped her on at least 3 separate occasions. Kennedy vehemently denied the allegations, professing his innocence right till the end. However, he was convicted, and sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.

Flash forward to 2012, and in January this year, Cassandra informed local police that she had lied about her testimony all those years ago. In her own words, she did a ‘horrible thing,’ and it just wasn't right for her father to be sitting in a police cell being punished for something that he did not do.

Cassandra told police that she got the idea of implicating her father in a nonexistent sex crime, from one of her friends who stepfather was imprisoned on a sex-crime charge. Cassandra was angry with her father, because her parents had recently been divorced, and her father wasn't spending a lot of time with her.

Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys must admit that it is very rare to come across a case like this. Thanks to organizations like the Innocence Project, DNA testing and other methods can be used to prove a person's innocence, after he has been sentenced. However, it is rare to have a case like this where the accuser comes forward voluntarily to take back the allegations.

All indications are that Cassandra will not be prosecuted for making false charges against her father. One of the reasons for this is that prosecutors do not want her shocking lies to discourage other victims from coming forward to file charges of sex crimes.

It isn't every day that Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys come across a sex crime where a prosecutor is the one being charged with the crime. Charges of rape against a prosecutor at a sex crimes unit in San Francisco may have ended with a dismissal, but it has spotlighted an allegedly sexually charged-environment at the unit.

The case involved Contra Costa County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Gressett, who was accused by a junior prosecutor at the sex crimes unit of rape. The junior prosecutor told police that Gressett had raped her during a lunch hour. The victim did not deny that she had been in favor of a sexual encounter, nor that they had had sex before, but she was not interested in having the kind of rough sex that he wanted. Gressett did not deny that the two had sex, but claimed that it was consensual.

The case soon began to unravel, however. The District Attorney’s Office released a registered sex offender in return for testimony by his girlfriend, a prostitute, that she had paid sex with Gressett. That testimony was later recanted. Charges against Gressett were ultimately dismissed.

However, court records and documents related to the case paint an unflattering portrait of the San Francisco sex crimes unit to Los Angeles criminal defense lawyers. Prosecutors allegedly prided themselves on being members of an informal sex club that involved plenty of sexual banter and discussion of sexual activities. According to court records, after-work socializing for prosecutors at the crimes unit involved a coed slumber party. The alleged victim in this case was a member of the club, and participated in these activities.

Another potentially disturbing sex crimes story in today’s Southern California criminal defense news.    Friday morning, law enforcement arrested a 41-year-old party clown, Jose Guadalupe Jimenez, while he was dressed as a clown.  Detectives allege that a DNA match tied Mr. Jimenez to an unsolved rape and kidnapping from January 19, 2002.  In this alleged rape and kidnapping, the suspect grabbed a girl at the corner of Lemon and Commonwealth in Fullerton, drove her to a school parking lot and raped her.  The suspect then allegedly took the girl to a motel where he molested her again.  The girl escaped and told the police that her attacker was a Hispanic male wearing a clown mask and make-up.

Mr. Jimenez was apparently arrested in 2010 and his DNA matched the DNA taken when the girl filed her original police report.

As a criminal defense attorney who handles a substantial amount of sex crimes cases in Los Angeles and Southern California, it is remarkable how many recent child molestation and rape cases are turning up as cold hit DNA cases due to the advances in DNA science.  The catch remains that in order for their to be a DNA match, the alleged defendant must end up in the criminal justice system for something in order to have his DNA taken.  Mr. Jimenez is facing a lifetime in state prison and mandatory sex registration for life if convicted on all the alleged sex crimes and kidnapping charges.

If you, or a loved, one has been accused of a sex crime, then call the Law Offices of Karen L Goldstein for a free, confidential consultation: (888) 445-6313.

Yesterday, the LAPD arrested a Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services (“DCFS”) Child Abuse Investigator for allegedly having committed sexual crimes against the mother of one of the children he was assigned to investigate for possible abuse.

It is believed that Mr. Yadulla Lorghaba, a Valley Village residence, will be charged with felony sexual battery. He was booked yesterday and released on $75,000 bail. The alleged sexual assault took place on September 18th of this year and occurred because the mother was being investigated for shoplifting charges.

As a criminal defense attorney who handles a large number of sex crimes cases, I find this news story notable for several reasons. First of all, if the charges are proven true, the obvious hypocrisy of the situation does not need to be noted as Mr. Lorghaba was supposed to be protecting the best interests of the child, and potentially ensuring that the criminal laws were being respected with respect to the child. Secondly, what really bothers me about this factual scenario, as a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles, is the fact that DCFS was investigating the mother at all. A shoplifting charge is a relatively minor offense, and while perhaps irresponsible, does not, in itself, indicate that a child is being subjected to abuse or neglect. Of course, without all the details it is hard to know the true nature of the alleged DCFS child abuse investigation; however, to think that the sexual assault could have been avoided completely if DCFS had not wasted county resources looking into a theft-related case, is a bit disturbing.

If you or a loved one, is fighting sex crimes charges, then call an experienced sex crimes attorney today at the Law Offices of Karen L. Goldstein for a free, confidential consultation: (888) 445-6313.

Mr. Warren Steed, a Mormon fundamentalist, and alleged “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“FLDS”) was convicted of two charges of rape as an accomplice in September 2007. He had been sentenced to serve two consecutive prison sentences of 5-to-life. However, the Utah Supreme Court just overturned the rape convictions and ordered a new trial based on jury instruction confusion.

The details of the alleged sex crimes committed by Mr. Steed consisted of improperly using his authority and power as a religious figure to unduly coerce a 14-year old girl into marrying her 19-year old cousin and forcing her to submit to marital rape. The alleged victim testified at trial that she informed Mr. Steeds repeatedly and unequivocally that she did not want to be married and that she was not comfortable with responding to the sexual demands of her husband. Mr. Steed allegedly advised her to seek guidance through prayer and threatened that if she refused to engage in sexual acts with her husband and to carry his children, that she would risk losing “eternal salvation.”

From a criminal defense attorney perspective, this is a particularly interesting sex crimes case because the issue of consent/lack of consent is analyzed in an atypical way. In California, consent may be a complete defense to rape charges, unless it is a statutory rape case, or a child molestation case (ie the alleged victim is 14 years or younger) where penetration is alleged. Also, in California the concept of marital rape does exist although these cases tend not to be as highly publicized as other type of rape cases.

Under Utah law, non-consensual sex may be proved through the alleged victim’s conduct or words, when the alleged victim is under 18, and when this lack of consent is conveyed to an “actor” in a position of trust. Apparently the Utah Supreme Court believed that the jury instructions regarding these issues of consent, coercion, and this notion of a position of trust, were delivered in a prejudicial erroneous fashion which confused the jury. Only time will tell whether the new jury instruction clarifications will result in Mr. Steed’s outright acquittal on the rape charges, once the trial starts anew, but certainly this case raises an unusual, and perhaps disturbing, set of consent issues.

On March 5, 2010, Ben Roethlisberger, current Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman at a bar called “Capital City” located in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Fortunately, for Mr. Roethlisberger, after reviewing the alleged victim’s testimony, and all the other forensic evidence in the case, the District Attorney has determined that it could not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore did not proceed to arrest Mr. Roethlisberher or to pursue criminal charges against him.

Given that the charges stemmed from an alleged sex offense which tool place at a bar it remains unclear whether the District Attorney’s decision was based on credibility problems with the alleged victim, the presence of alcohol being involved with the incident, or the alleged victim’s perceived unwillingness to assist in the prosecution of this matter.

As is often the case with rape cases, although the alleged victim went to the hospital and had a rape kit done, there was insufficient male DNA to conclude whether Mr. Roethlisberger had sex with the alleged victim. Furthermore, although the medical exam revealed genital bruising, bruising in itself does not conclusively show sexual assault occurred but rather merely shows the presence of rough sexual activity. Interestingly enough, the District Attorney stated something us defense attorneys have been espousing for years, “…we do not prosecute morals…we prosecute crimes." Let’s hope that the District Attorneys in California adhere to these same standards for the prosecution of its sex crimes.