A criminal charge and arrest for sexual assault or rape is the worst day of your life. You are wondering if you could really be convicted and go to jail. And the risks are very real with a felony offense this serious.
Whatever happened, people will look at you differently and wonder.
When is seems like almost no one is on your side, the law allows and requires that you are entitled to a strong defense in court. You are absolutely innocent until proven guilty, even if it doesn’t feel like that.
Please call us for a confidential legal defense consultation. We have helped clients defend and fight against serious charges including sexual assault and rape in the past.
Sexual Assault Laws and Penalties
Sexual assault is defined by sexual touching or otherwise indecent or unwanted physical contact with genitals, buttocks, or breasts, or in any other manner considered “indecent”.
Sexual assault is the same as indecent assault under Massachusetts law.
The penalty for indecent assault, if convicted is:
- up to 5 years in state prison or 2 ½ years in the house of correction.
You will also be required to register as a sex offender with the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB). You will need to provide a DNA sample and have other restrictions on your life. The fact that you are a registered sex offender will be public information and posted at police stations, schools, libraries, post offices, and other public spots.
Statutory Rape
The age of consent for sex in Massachusetts is 16.
An adult having sex with some under the age of 16 is subject to penalties of up to a maximum of life in prison.
Age differences – additional maximum penalties for rape of a child (statutory rape)
- If there is more than a 5 year difference in ages and the child is under 12, or
- If there is a more than 10 year difference in ages and the child is between the ages of 12 and 16,
there is a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison.
Rape
Rape is an even more serious sexual assault charge. It is defined as non-consensual penetrative sex or unnatural sexual intercourse by force or threat of force.
The penalties for a Rape conviction are:
- up to 20 years in prison.
Again you will also be required to register as a sex offender, as above.
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Rape of a Child
Child rape is defined as the rape of a person under the age of 16 years old. The penalties are up to life in prison for a conviction.
There are also aggregating circumstance, if other felonies or circumstances are included in the offense, such as breaking and entering, causing physical injury, drugging, forcing child pornography, knowingly transmitting a sexual disease, any of which can invoke mandatory minimums of not less than 15 years in prison, for example.
Drugging a Person for Sex
The penalty for deliberately drugging a person to make them incapacitated or unable to physically or verbally withhold consent for sex is a prison sentence of 10 years to life.
Rape/Sexual Assault Legal Defense Options
With charges this serious, there is no time to waste in getting your legal defense started.
Our attorneys have defended clients before on serious felony sex offense charges, and in Massachusetts Superior Court. The stakes are extremely high in these situations, so we are always ready to pull out all the stops in a vigorous defense of our clients.
We will typically use private investigative services to interview witnesses, and relatives and find any inconsistencies or questions in the case.
But no matter what, we will treat you with respect, and sympathy in our legal defense on your behalf.
Sexual Assault Case Wins
Senior Trial Counsel Andrew Berman of the Law Offices of Russell Matson once represented a 16-year-old boy who regularly babysat for the younger children in his neighborhood as a means to save for his first car. Following one night during which he babysat for a neighbor’s 6-year-old daughter, the girl’s mother claimed that the girl made statements suggesting that the client had touched her “privates” while they were sitting on the couch watching television.
According to the client, who was very close to the girl’s family, he had been playing with the girl and tickling her, but he did not and would never touch the girl in any appropriate way. It was determined during discovery that it was the mother who had planted the seed of sexual assault in the girl’s mind by overreacting to innocuous statements of the girl and then asking the girl “leading” questions which in and of themselves suggested that she had been sexually assaulted.
During the course of a later interview with the sexual assault team of the District Attorney’s office, it was also determined that the girl did not yet have an understanding of the difference between the truth and a lie. Further, a private investigator discovered evidence that the father of the girl had made statements regarding his jealousy towards the affluence of the client’s family and his intention to sue his neighbor for monetary damages.
Ultimately, given the inconsistencies and other issues with the girl’s testimony, and in order to avoid the risks associated with a trial, the client agreed to a PreTrial Probation for a period of 2 years with no conditions or admission of guilt.