Articles Posted in Sex Crimes

In November 2002, the complaining witness, then 14 years old and pregnant, first told medical providers and then the police that she had been raped by a 14-year-old classmate in her school. Once inconsistencies in her story were revealed, she stated that she had engaged in consensual sex with this classmate.

A New York Criminal lawyer said that, five years later, the complainant, now age 19, reported to the police that the defendant, her stepgrandfather, had engaged in sexual intercourse with her several years before. The complainant testified before a grand jury that, over three time periods in 2002, the defendant raped her.

The People filed an indictment, alleging that the defendant committed several felonies, misdemeanors, and violations during those three periods in 2002. The defendant moved to dismiss the indictment, contending that because the complainant had first “reported” the incident to the police in 2002, the indictment should be dismissed as time-barred. The Supreme Court agreed and dismissed the indictment in its entirety.

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A woman approached a group of children in a park, grabbed the arm of an eight-year-old girl and tried to pull her away; her motive, as far as it can be inferred from the record, was to replace one of her own children, of whom she had lost custody. She pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping.

A man became angry when his girlfriend asked him to leave her apartment, and locked the girlfriend in that apartment, with her one- and two-year-old children, for several days. The man was convicted, among other things, of the unlawful imprisonment of each of the children.

Another man was the employer of a prostitute who tried to quit her job; he reacted by abducting the woman’s son and telling her he would kill the child if she did not continue to work for him. The man pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping.

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An old man was arrested for acting in concert with a young man in allegedly committing the crimes of Kidnapping in the First Degree, Rape in the First Degree, Sodomy in the First Degree, and Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree, against a woman at approximately 11:00 p.m., in the vicinity of Bronx County. The Defendant old man and his co-defendant young man were subsequently indicted for all of the above charges. In the felony complaint, it was alleged that the Defendant old man and the young man detained the woman in a car and refused to let her leave when she requested to do so. Further, when she attempted to get out, she was pulled back inside and her mouth covered when she tried to scream for help. The two Defendants then held her down while the Defendant old man inserted his penis into her vagina and the young man inserted his penis into her mouth, both without her consent. At the time of his arrest, when told that he was being charged with rape, the Defendant old man responded that he kind of had that feeling. He was subsequently identified by both the woman and an eyewitness in separate corporeal lineups.

In the course of the Grand Jury presentation, it was established that the woman was with her lady friend. The friend knew the Defendant old man and talked to him while the woman was standing close by. The two ladies got into the back seat of the vehicle. When the lady friend got out and bought some cigarettes or marijuana, the Defendant old man drove off with the woman. The woman called to her lady friend for help. However, the defendant young man pulled her back into the car. The Defendant old man proceeded to drive to a parking lot. He then got into the back seat, grabbed the woman’s thigh and demanded that she place his penis into her mouth. Thereafter, the Defendant old man removed her pants, held her hands down, and engaged in sexual intercourse with her against her will. The defendant young man then inserted his penis into the woman’s mouth and masturbated into her mouth while the Defendant old man held her hands down as she was repeatedly shouting, “No.” The criminal defendant young man then struck the woman in the mouth. Afterwards, she was driven to within one block of her home and forcibly thrown out of the car.

DNA tests performed on the victim and Defendant revealed that his semen and that of another male were found on a vaginal swab of the victim as well as on her panties.

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A Bronx Criminal Lawyer said that, on June 11, 1996, defendant pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second degree, admitting that on September 11, 1993 he raped a woman and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest. While defendant was incarcerated, his DNA was found to match the DNA developed from a semen sample collected from another rape victim on August 29, 1993, and defendant was indicted for that crime, which was committed while he was on parole after a 1990 conviction for robbery in the second degree. On June 25, 2003, defendant pleaded guilty to rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree. On September 16, 2003, he was sentenced, as a second violent felony offender (based on the robbery conviction), to 7 to 14 years, to run concurrently with the sentence on the attempted murder conviction.1

A Bronx Sex Crimes Lawyer said that, before his conditional release date, the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders (Board) prepared a case summary and risk assessment instrument (RAI) that assessed a total score of 170 points for various risk factors, which placed defendant presumptively in risk level three under SORA. The Board also recommended that defendant be designated a sexually violent offender based on his first-degree rape and sodomy convictions. Defendant then moved to be classified at a lower risk level and to find SORA unconstitutional on its face and as applied to him. On April 1, 2010, after a hearing, defendant was designated a level three sexually violent offender under SORA.

A Bronx Sex Crime Lawyer said that, defendant appeals from the order of the Supreme Court, Bronx County, entered on or about April 1, 2010, which adjudicated him a level three sexually violent offender pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act.

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In this appealed Criminal case, the court we consider whether there is sufficient evidence to support a finding that the subject children are neglected pursuant to article 10 of the Family Court Act.

A New York Criminal attorney said that In October 2007, respondent father pleaded guilty to rape in the second degree, engaging in sexual intercourse with a person less than 15 years of age, and patronizing a prostitute in the third degree, which at the time of his conviction was defined as patronizing a prostitute under 17 years of age. He was sentenced to one year imprisonment, and was released on time served. The court adjudicated father a level three sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), but he was never ordered to attend any sex crimes offender treatment. Father returned home, where he lived with his wife and their five children, then between the ages of 4 and 14.

Thereafter, in 2007, the Dutchess County Social Services (DSS) filed neglect petitions pursuant to Family Court Act article 10 against both parents. As relevant here, the petitions alleged that father neglected the children because he was an “untreated” sex offender whose crimes involved victims between 13 and 15 years old. Mother allegedly “failed to protect the children” from father. DSS sought to have the children adjudicated neglected, both parents ordered into a sex offender relapse intervention program, and a temporary order of protection issued against father on the children’s behalf. Child Pornography was not charged.

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In January 2007, a Police undercover detective posing as a participant in an Internet chat room was contacted by another chat room participant with an alias. The defendant engaged in several exchanges with the detective, stating, inter alia, that he wanted to engage in sexual acts with underage children, that he possessed child pornography both at home and at his workplace, and that he shared such pornography through Web sites. He also electronically transmitted a video image and still image of child pornography to the detective.

A New York Sex crimes lawyer said that the Police district identified defendant and obtained a warrant to search his workplace and residence. Thereafter, while executing the warrant, the detective observed defendant using a scree name, and he was arrested. A DVD containing offending images was seized.

In his videotaped statement after arrest, defendant admitted his use of a screen name to view pornographic images of underage girls. Approximately two and a half hours into his interview, he also confessed to having sexual relations with five underage girls, but added that he only saw each of such girls once because he did not perform well and was embarrassed.

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Having been released to parole supervision following their incarceration resulting from separate convictions for sexual offenses the defendants individually appeared before the Court, pursuant to Correction Law to obtain judicial determinations as to the level of notification or classification applicable to them.

Prior to the Court’s assessment of their risk levels, criminal defendant one and defendant two, by Notice of Motion challenged the constitutionality of SORA. These motions, argued within two days of each other, have now been consolidated for purposes of this decision because they raise identical legal issues. Supported by a brief affirmation of the Assistant Public Defender appearing as counsel for both defendants and relying wholly upon the Judge’s decision, each defendant maintains that, as it applies to him, SORA is unconstitutional in that it violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution. The Attorney General, in opposition, while conceding the Act’s retrospectivity asserts that it does not implicate the Ex Post Facto Clause because the statute is remedial and not punitive.

The salient provisions of the statute, as it pertains to the defendants’ ex post facto claims, must initially be summarized. The Act requires those individuals convicted of designated offenses, principally sex crimes offenses, to register with the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) ten days after their discharge from prison, or their release or parole. Verification by the sex offenders of their addresses and any relocation by them is required for at least ten years unless the court grants relief from the registration requirement. A sex offender’s failure to register is punishable as a misdemeanor for the first offense with any subsequent failure to do so constituting a Class D Felony. Additionally, any failure to register may constitute necessary grounds for a parole revocation.

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In January 1992, Respondent pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree robbery, and single counts of first-degree burglary, first-degree rape, and first-degree sodomy. This plea satisfied charges arising from two separate criminal incidents—the robbery of a gas station attendant and a home invasion—for which Respondent was arrested and indicted separately in 1988. He was sentenced to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of 8 to 16 years, running from his arrest.

A New York Criminal attorney said that Respondent was released to parole supervision in July 1999, after serving 11 years and eight months of his sentence. But in May 2000, he was arrested and indicted separately for three robberies. In December 2001, he pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree robbery, for each of which he was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 2 to 4 years, and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, for which he was sentenced to prison for one year. He was subsequently released to parole supervision on January 6, 2006.

Respondent was returned to prison for violating the conditions of his parole in July 2006. He was released to parole supervision again in April 2007, but went back to prison after violating the conditions of his parole in August of that year. Respondent was next released to parole supervision in early 2008. He was arrested for the misdemeanor crimes of petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree on 2008. Upon pleading guilty to petit larceny, he received a definite sentence, which he served at a local correctional facility. Respondent remained subject to the supervision of the State Division of Parole throughout his time at correctional facility, but his parole was not revoked, apparently because his jail sentence ended days before his parole expiration date: He was freed and his parole supervision ended in November 2008, when he reached the maximum term (20 years) of his consecutive indeterminate sentences.

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A New York Criminal Lawyer said that, in 1990, defendant pleaded guilty to rape in the first degree in satisfaction of a series of charges relating to a 1988 incident in which he pulled a stranger into an abandoned van and raped her. The victim managed to escape and flag down a passing police officer and defendant was arrested at the scene. At a SORA redetermination hearing in February 2006, defendant was adjudicated a level two risk—that is, a moderate risk of re-offense—based, in part, on the assessment of 30 points under factor 1 of the Risk Assessment Instrument (RAI) for having been armed with a dangerous instrument at the time of the rape. To establish defendant’s possession of a dangerous instrument, the District Attorney relied on three documents that are apparently used internally by the District Attorney’s office: a Data Analysis Form, a Grand Jury Synopsis Sheet and an Early Case Assessment Bureau Data Sheet.3 Various entries on these forms indicated that, in the course of the incident, defendant had threatened the victim with a “chrome strip” or “piece of metal”—a dangerous instrument.

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said that, defense counsel objected to the District Attorney’s reliance on these unsworn, unsigned documents, contending they did not constitute “reliable hearsay” under Correction Law § 168-n (3) and were therefore inadmissible at the SORA proceeding. Defendant did not, however, testify at the hearing, nor did he offer any evidence rebutting the dangerous instrument allegations. Without requiring the People to offer foundation evidence, Supreme Court relied on the documents, along with the indictment charging defendant with a weapon possession offense, to sustain the assessment of 30 points. This brought defendant within the moderate risk category (75 to 105 points) and the court therefore adjudicated defendant a level two offender. Absent the assessment of 30 points, defendant would have fallen within the presumptive level one, low risk category.

A divided Appellate Division affirmed the level two designation, concurring with Supreme Court that the internal documents of the District Attorney’s office constituted reliable hearsay admissible at a SORA proceeding.

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A man was indicted and charged with the crimes of sodomy in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. The said crimes were committed but the man was not arrested until more than three years later.

The man was then tried for the crimes charged. A mistrial resulted because of a deadlocked jury which was reported to have said that its final vote was 10 to 2 for acquittal. The case consisted essentially of one-witness identification by the victim of the crime. A corporeal identification of the man was first made by the witness, more than three and a half years after the crime was committed, following the photo identification.

In preparing for a re-trial, the attorney of the man, who was newly retained after the first trial, requested the prosecution to produce certain evidence. The request was based upon the official police report prepared and signed by a detective. According to the report, the complainant struggled with her assailant and, in the course of the struggle the assailant cut his hand with his own knife.

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