Very few things can be more devastating as a parent than having your son be wrongfully, and publicly, accused of rape. I’ve defended Greenwich Connecticut rape investigations for over 15 years and even if your son is cleared, the stigma from the investigation can be life-changing if it’s not handled properly. And I’m just talking about accusations, not even arrests.
Some of the best Greenwich Connecticut criminal lawyers are seeing a surge of rape accusation cases among hard-partying millennials, where accusations and insinuations of rape, sex assault, or aggressive sexual behavior, are being published online—often anonymously—and specifically on social media.
As a result, reputations of Greenwich, Darien and Stamford teenagers and college students are being permanently tarnished without any accountability for the accusers.
So if your son is being accused of rape or sex assault in Greenwich, keep reading to learn how you can take immediate action, work with a lawyer to prevent an arrest, and restore your son’s reputation.
It’s critical for anyone accused of rape or sex assault in Greenwich, Darien or anywhere in Connecticut to preserve all of the social media of the accuser immediately before and after the date of the alleged rape / sex assault. Top Greenwich Connecticut criminal lawyers have seen cases where the accuser is posting selfies and promiscuous photos and videos the very next day after the alleged assault.
Be sure to check all of their social media—including Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook. And if there is anything valuable online, then be sure to have a top Greenwich Connecticut private investigator collect the data, as this ensures the authenticity and evidentiary reliability of the social media postings if it were ever needed in court.
As for your son’s own social media…if he has been accused of a rape or sex assault in Greenwich, then have him take down all his social media immediately. Make no mistake—Greenwich Police Department Special Victims Unit detectives are trolling the internet and social media for clues or evidence that may corroborate a rape accusation.
Having your son temporarily take down his social media doesn’t make him look guilty. It’s a preventive measure that ensures that his boneheaded buddies don’t post any comments, jokes, or photos that could incriminate him or mistakenly suggest that he was involved in a sex assault or rape on the date in question.
If you know your son has been wrongfully accused of rape in Greenwich, work with a top Greenwich Connecticut criminal law firm to get any webcam footage of the accuser at someone’s house, or at a bar or restaurant drinking on the date in questions. I’ve squashed several rape investigations by showing police social media and video of the accuser partying just hours after the alleged rape occurred.
This is especially true in Statutory Rape investigations—specifically when the teenagers were drinking or doing drugs while having sex. Remember, consensually engaging in sex (and that means vaginal or oral sex) is not consensual if one or both of the parties are “physically impaired” by drugs or alcohol. This Connecticut statutory rape definition is extremely broad—so if your son admits to having sexual contact with a consenting partner while drunk or high, then he could very well be confessing to Sexual Assault in the Second Degree under CGS 53a-71.
Any of the best Greenwich Connecticut statutory rape criminal lawyers appreciate the risks of making these kinds of admissions to police. Remember that the police have the burden of proof in criminal investigations. This is the burden to present probable cause to a judge that (1) sexual contact or intercourse / penetration took place, and (2) that it took place without consent or while someone is physically impaired. So if your son thinks he doing the right thing by admitting to either of these elements of the crime before speaking to a top Greenwich Connecticut criminal attorney / lawyer, you’re gravely mistaken.
Accusations of rape and sex assault in Greenwich Connecticut are usually between high school and college students who know each other, or have met through friends or online.
Add drugs or alcohol into the equation and a casual hookup or sexual encounter can escalate very quickly into something more intimate, causing rumors to fly at the high school or university level, or just among social circles, often triggering a report to the police or a Title IX investigation.
So if your son has been wrongfully accused of rape in Greenwich, Darien or Stamford Connecticut, contact the Mark Sherman Law firm today.
