Falsely Accused of Child Abuse

Make the mistake of not taking an allegation of child sexual abuse, child molesting or rape seriously. Just because you know that you did nothing wrong does not mean that the allegations will magically disappear. You may well be in for the fight of your life.
Panic. There is no question that a false allegation of child sexual abuse will make you furious, but stop right there and begin to rationalize. You cannot help the position you are in by blowing up or going off the deep end, but you can begin preparing a positive and an active defense. The question you must really ask yourself is, "What is my life worth to me?"
Get caught up in a belief that there is no case because, "They have no DNA, there is no medical evidence and all they have is the word of a child." That is all they need. While there is no question that some children do make false allegations of abuse there is also no question that real abuse happens as well. In real abuse cases, if a child is improperly touched, normally the only two people on the planet who are present are the "victim" and the "perpetrator." There are no witnesses, usually no medical corroborating evidence and no DNA, so what do we, as a society, tell that child who is scared, but comes forward with a legitimate claim? Do we tell them that they are a liar because some adult thinks it is "unfair" since their "word" is all that they have? That would be absurd. Every allegation made by a child should be carefully looked at by open-minded individuals who are not trying to rubber stamp an abuse allegation simply because a child said it happened.
Take it personal, but in most cases where there is an outcry of child sexual abuse or child molesting, the accused will immediately and automatically be seen as guilty. I have heard comments again and again over the years, "What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" These cases are different than any other criminal case, mainly because of the emotions involved. These cases usually involve children alleging that they have been hurt and that alone has a tendency to tug at everyone.s heart strings. The belief supporting this is that many believe a child is incapable of lying about something as serious as child abuse. Not so. Most kids who make false disclosures never really understand what they are doing or the extent of the damage that their allegations may cause.
Immediately agree to speak with a representative of social services or law enforcement until you either have an attorney or are working with someone with experience in these cases who can properly guide you. Most attorneys will advise their clients not to speak to authorities or, if they do, to assure that the attorney is present. If I am working with a client and:
- They are in a one-party recording state, meaning they live in a state where it is legal to secretly audio tape conversations to "which they are a party to."
- They fully understand how to respond to the "buzz questions," like why would the child say it if it did not happen? Simply put; you never speculate or guess. That question would best be answered by, "I don.t know." "You are asking me to speculate on possibilities and I have no idea." "I am hoping that your investigation will answer that." The fact is, interviewers know the accused cannot really answer that question. They just want the accused talking so hopefully they will either say something harmful or end up confessing.
- I understand their personality and know how they will act and respond under stress and pressure.
- They understand they are doing the interview to "gain" information and not "give" it.
- I am confident that they will not say anything antagonistic or do anything that might put them at risk.
- I will usually want my client to agree to the interview and without an attorney present. If an accused has an attorney, the interviewer will normally remain very professional, but if the accused is sitting there by themselves, the interviewer might say or do things that would put themselves and/or their departments at risk. We have had cases where that happened and all charges against my client were later dismissed because of the improper and inappropriate actions of the interviewer.
Rush to retain an attorney until you know that the lawyer you are considering is the right lawyer for you. Never forget that "everyone" in prison had a lawyer. There is an art to finding the right attorney. If you interviewed 25 lawyers, most probably all would say they have experience defending child sexual abuse cases, but that is just not true. Now, there are exceptions. A prior prosecutor who became a defense attorney probably does have a great deal of experience, but there is a world of difference in putting a child on the witness stand and asking them to tell the jury what happened than there is being a defense attorney attempting to show lies and inconsistencies in the child's allegations. I have found that the best method is to prepare a short synopsis of your overall problem, then submit that to a number of attorneys with a letter stating, "If this is a case you would be interested in handling and you believe you could successfully defend, I would like to arrange an appointment with you to discuss it." Some will respond, some will not. Of those who do respond, some will actually have read the document you prepared and some have not. The key is, asking the proper questions when you meet with the attorney in order to determine if they are being honest, or simply trying to get you on-board, so-to-speak. For additional information on retaining the proper lawyer, see Selecting the Proper Attorney. One thing for sure. This method beats just walking into an attorney's office, paying them and hoping that just because they are a lawyer you are in good hands.
Consider taking a polygraph, psychological testing or submitting to a psychosexual evaluation without first having completed one or all of them successfully and that you have the knowledge to do them properly. In my cases, many times I have my clients thoroughly evaluated, which will include psychological, drug screen, sexual preference and a polygraph. I do not do this to "see" if they are guilty. I assume they are not or I never would expose them to such testing. Once they successfully complete all testing, it gives them an emotional boost, assures they know "how" to complete the testing and then puts us into a position where we can go to the opposing side and say, "Gee, there must be some testing you could give us so you could see we are not guilty." You would be surprised how often that works, both on the civil and the criminal side of a case, but under no circumstances should you expose yourself to testing requested by the State or the opposing side in a civil case unless you have completed those evaluations and have the knowledge that you can successfully do the same again.
Give up or pretend everything will be okay. So many innocent people wind up convicted and in prison and only then do they realize how serious their case was. If you have been accused, consider the day the allegation was made as point "A." Assuming the case goes full circle, point "Z" would be when the jury comes back in with a verdict. It will take that jury about 5 seconds to read that verdict. If that verdict is guilty, you could be sent to prison for years and it certainly does you no good at that point to stand there and wish you had done things right. The sad part is, if convicted, your family and/or friends will usually fight in an effort to have your conviction overturned. If they are successful, you will still have spent about 2 years in prison, then when and if the conviction is reversed, you are released, but you will face a new trial, another possible conviction and possibly even a greater sentence if found guilty. The point is simple. You win or lose these cases before you walk into a courtroom. Standing in a courtroom and picking a jury is the wrong time to find out that your attorney has no clue as to what they are doing. In reality, as I said, the allegation was point "A." The verdict is point "Z." The question is, what do you do between those two times? If you fail to properly prepare, then expect to fail at trial.
Let anyone ever tell you that an allegation of child sexual abuse cannot become a civil problem as well as criminal. I had a client who was facing 13 felony charges from two accusers, one being his daughter. One month prior to trial, the State dismissed all charges. Months later, his daugher brought a civil suit against him. No one was worried because the criminal charges had been disposed of. Huge mistake! The case was not taken seriously and a jury awared her a 1.7 million dollar verdict.

Educate yourself. So many people have relatives or friends research the web, trying to find help for the accused. That is a huge mistake. The accused is the one who needs the education. It is their life hanging in the balance. Their friends and loved ones cannot sit at the defense table for them or take the witness stand for them. Unless you educate yourself, how are you going to be pro-active in your defense and how will you know that what you are being told is right or wrong? You will need to know:
- What exactly is the State's case against me?
- Do we have all discovery the State is required to furnish?
- Is my attorney handling all discovery issues properly?
- Who will testify against me and what will that testimony consist of?
- What exactly is my defense?
- How to properly conduct yourself in the courtroom.
- That you are properly prepared to testify and there is far more involved than simply being told, "Just got up there and tell the truth." The accused must testify in these he said /she said cases and the verdict will come down to credibility and who has it.
"Think outside the box." The sad truth is, this is rarely done. Most people defending false allegations of child sexual abuse or child molesting do so as if they were painting by the numbers; one section at a time and never out of order. As I have stated again and again, these cases are far different than any other criminal case and usually the entire defense comes down to "he said" / "she said." That can easily mean, "Let's wait to get to trial and see what happens," or in a worse case scenario, if the accused fails to testify then the judge or jury is left with only the child's allegation and that will usually lead straight to a guilty verdict. There are ways to attack these allegations and prove the lies, but that will not happen when defending by the numbers. Every cases is different and the approach you take may work on one case but may not work on another. You can "prove the lie," but it will take effort, imagination, a desire to win, the ability to "think outside the box" and your refusal to listen to everyone telling you "what can’t be done." "Can’t" simply means, "Won’t." As a few examples:
- In a prior case, we interviewed the accuser using a survey form that we created based on Megan’s Law, the law that requires a sex offender to register. The accuser had no idea that the questions they were being asked during their "survey" had anything to do with the allegations they had made against our client. They answered truthfully during the survey and even went so far as to sign the form itself. Their responses were completely contradictory to the allegations they had made and as a result, that "simple survey" ended a criminal case and destroyed any chance the accuser had of pursuing a civil case for monetary damages.
- Some mother’s will attempt to use their child and a false allegation of child sexual abuse in order to gain the upper hand in a custody battle. In a prior case, one of our employees was able to establish a very close friendship with our client’s ex-wife. That enabled us to learn exactly what her plans and strategy were and thankfully, because of that knowledge, the State refused to even consider criminal charges and the father was awarded custody of his children.
- In a prior case, I personally met the accusing child and established a friendship with her and the family that she was living with several months before my client’s criminal trial was scheduled to begin. My client was the accusing child’s father and he was facing multiple charges of abuse based on allegations she had made against him. As a result of the relationship that I managed to establish, that girl called my cell phone the morning her father’s trial begin and recanted all of her allegations. I informed the prosecutor, he met with the young lady and then approximately 30 minutes later, the State dismissed all charges against my client. At that time, my client’s case had been going on for 3 years and he had already had one mistrial before I got involved.
Consider having a thorough psychological evaluation conducted. When a person is falsely accused of child sexual abuse, I would expect to see issues of depression and paranoia surface. The question is, to what extent? I have had clients who were shown to have a major depression, one that affects their eating, sleeping and their ability to make logical and rational decisions. In a case of sexual abuse, the last thing the accused needs to do is take a witness stand with a severe depression, because they could easily come across to a jury as appearing guilty. A person who has a major depression usually gets locked into self-pity and that is not the best emotion to have when trying to prepare a defense in a case this serious. You need to treat that depression. Now, as I understand it, medication does not "treat" a depression, it simply masks the symptoms. The depression will run it.s course over time, but when on the proper medication and the symptoms are masked, the decisions made are far more logical and rational. For example, someone who has been falsely accused and has a major depression can easily get caught up arguing "I am supposed to be considered innocent," and "The only thing they had was the word of a child." If you get locked into self-pity over those issues, that is where your time will be spent, simply feeling sorry for yourself and griping about how unfair the world and the justice system are. You need to spend all time possible preparing a defense and that will not be done properly unless you are thinking properly, logically and rationally, so if a psychological evaluation identifies a major depression, get on the proper medication for it. It will usually take about 30 days to even determine if the medication you are on is the correct medication.
Attempt to prepare an accurate time line surrounding the allegations themselves - where you were, what you were doing or by gathering any evidence that might support your case. As a perfect example, say someone was accused of touching a child inappropriately. In most cases, in order to lend support and credibility to the allegation, the child will usually claim they are afraid of the accused. Now, say you have a number of photographs that were taken "after" the alleged abuse was supposed to have happened, or say you have a card, (Father.s Day, Christmas or Birthday), from the accusing child to the accuser, these would all help to show the allegation is simply not true. Now, one word of warning; Use extreme care in handling evidence you may find that could support your innocense. I had a prior client, a young man from Arkansas, who, before I was retained, knew he could not have been guilty of the allegations that had been made against him. He was not even in the state at the time. Believing that law enforcement was simply doing their job, he took all his motel receipts as well as his meal and gas tickets, went to the local police, told them he knew they were just doing their job and gave them all the information he had. They thanked him for clearing it up, patted him on the back, sent him on his way, then went straight to the child and told her they needed her to give them another date. She did, my client had no alibi and the evidence that would have proven he was innocent was gone.
Refuse to lose and refuse to accept guilt for something you have not done. Many times attorneys will attempt to sell their client a plea. "Oh, it will not affect you." "You are not saying you are guilty." Do not kid yourself. Accepting a plea will be a life changing decision. I have yet to see one person, in the past 40 years, who accepted a plea because they thought it was the safest and most expedient thing to do, then found that they had made a huge mistake and spent years trying to get that plea set aside. In some cases, a plea can be set aside, but if it is, that accused is more than likely going straight to trial. It is far easier to reverse a conviction than it is to have a plea set aside. When you accept a plea, you void any appeal and in reality, you stand before the judge and admit that you know exactly what you are doing. I do understand that people get scared, but before making a decision that could affect you for the rest of your life, know and understand all the issues and consequences.
If at all possible, retain someone who has knowledge in dealing with false allegations of child sexual abuse. There is an art to the manner in which you prepare a defense strategy and defending these cases is far different than defending any other criminal case. If you attempt to defend a child sexual abuse allegation in the same manner you would another criminal case, there is a very good chance you are heading straight for a conviction. For an detailed explanation of how we work with clients who have been falsely accused, see Our Expertise.

Falsely Accused of Child Abuse What to Do - What Not to Do

Falsely Accused of Child Abuse
What to Do - What Not to Do