In January 20, 2002, a woman was living in with her fiancé who was then thirty-nine years old. The woman’s mother and 13 year old sister came over to visit them and they stayed in the same house that the woman shared with her fiancé.
A New York Criminal Lawyer said that while the 13-year old sister was visiting, the fiancé assaulted the 13 year old. He committed sodomy by inserting his male organ into the young child’s anus. The man was charged with sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, and other Sex Crimes. He was found guilty by a jury and the trial court sentenced him to a prison term of two to six years.
After he was convicted and sentenced, the man moved to set aside the jury verdict. He claims that his right to a fair trial was violated when the panty of the 13 year old was admitted into evidence even if the panty was recovered by the police thirty-seven days after the date of the commission of the offense. He claims that the panty should not have been admitted into evidence as it was not shown clearly by the prosecution that it had not been contaminated when it stayed in the clothes hamper in the apartment of the child’s sister for thirty-seven days where it could have been wet or degraded. He also claims that the lawyer who defended him was ineffective. A Nassau County Criminal Lawyer said that the claims that his lawyer failed to cross-examine the forensic scientists and experts presented by the prosecution. He claims that his counsel failed to present experts to rebut the claims of the experts presented by the prosecution. He further claims that his conviction should be vacated because the prosecution hid evidence that would have exculpated him.