The “Me Too” nightmare

Aiken O’Halloran and Foley
Experienced State and Federal Criminal Defense Attorneys
Ft Myers 239-334-8890
The Cape 239-984-4994
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Charlotte 941-639-6009
Sarasota 941-366-3506

Ever since the hearings two weeks ago on the confirmation of the Supreme Court Justice, there has been an explosion of people coming forward, mostly women, claiming they were sexually abused years and years ago.

These allegations are from former employees, family members, former dates, former classmates, stepdaughters, and old girlfriends. How do you defend against someone claiming you did something years ago? The problem becomes a nightmare when the person accusing you claims that they were underage when they claim it happened. It is one thing to defend against something that they say happened last month and quite another to defend against something ten years ago.
For some crimes there is a statute of limitations that gives the State a certain number of years to file the charge. For some sexual battery crimes, particularly when a minor was involved there may be no limit as to how long the State can wait. We have been defending date rape cases for decades.

Sometimes, women do not want to take responsibility for their own actions.

They may say “I was drunk” and you should not have taken advantage of me. They may say that “we were stoned” or “under the influence” at it is your fault. I have found that many times, the accusation is simply false or both people are at fault. Over the years, I have found that many times, it is a stepdaughter simply making a false claim to get rid of her mother’s new partner.

News flash……teenage girls sometimes are drama queens and masters of manipulation. If they falsely accuse their mom’s new man, DCF is called, the police show up, the man gets arrested and gets kicked out and the real dad comes back into their life and to their rescue. They become the focus of everyone’s attention. Sadly many female prosecutors in a knee jerk sympathy reaction believe the false accusation and file the charges.

Being falsely accused of a sex crime can ruin your life. If you even get a hint you are under investigation, you need to lawyer up as soon as possible. Never make any kind of statement with seeking counsel. You have the right to remain silent, and you need to. Do not try and talk your way out of the problem, you will only did yourself a hole. The police will generally have the accuser make a controlled “recorded” call to get more evidence in the terms of some type of admission. If you are under investigation…Call a good criminal defense lawyer now.