How Can I Get a Sexual Assault Charge Dropped?

You can get a sexual assault charge dropped in some cases. If our Houston sexual assault defense lawyer can prove:

• There is little to no evidence that you committed the crime.
• The evidence that you committed the crime is flawed.
• Law enforcement violated your rights.
• You have a solid alibi.
• The alleged victim identified the wrong person.
• You had consent.
• The alleged victim made false statements.

Lack of Evidence

The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed this crime. If it doesn’t have any physical evidence (e.g., DNA evidence, video footage, etc.), we’ll fight for a dismissal.

The prosecution may drop the charges, or your case may be “no-billed” by the grand jury (i.e., it decides there’s not enough evidence to charge you).

Flawed or Weak Evidence

In some cases, there may be evidence of your guilt, but it is flawed or weak. Jay Blass Cohen and the Blass Law team know how to poke even more holes into this argument. If this is the case, as with a lack of evidence, the case may be “no-billed” by the grand jury.

Procedural Errors or Violation of Your Rights

If the police officers or prosecutor did something to violate your rights, we can have that evidence suppressed and work to get the charges dismissed. Examples of procedural violations include:

• Failing to read you your Miranda rights (e.g., right to remain silent, right to request an attorney, the right to stop answering questions at any point)
• Fabricating evidence to get a search warrant
• Failing to have the proper chain of custody with evidence
• A coerced confession
• Using force
• Entrapment
• Misconduct (e.g., planting evidence, coercing people into giving false information)

You Have an Alibi

To have committed the crime, you had to have been with the alleged victim at the time they said you were. If we can establish that you were somewhere else with other people, we can prove you didn’t commit the crime.

Mistaken Identity

In some cases, victims of sexual assault identify the wrong person. We can use your alibi and the existence of the actual attacker to get your charges dropped.

The Alleged Victim Consented

If we can establish the victim consented (or you had good reason to believe they consented), we may be able to get your charges dropped. We may be able to prove consent with:

• Text messages
• Video of the alleged assault
• Witness testimony

False Statements By the Victim

Sometimes, people lie. If we can prove the alleged victim lied, we can push hard for the prosecutor to drop the charges.

The Alleged Victim Wants to Drop the Charges

Sometimes, an alleged victim will recant sexual assault allegations soon after accusing you. In some cases, this can affect whether the state presses charges.

Will the Charge Automatically Be Dismissed if the Alleged Victim doesn’t Want to Press Charges?

No. The charges are brought by the state, not by the victims. Even if the victim changes their mind about the sexual assault allegations, the charges won’t drop automatically.

This is why it is so important to get legal representation. Once you’ve been arrested, the process starts, and you won’t get out of the legal system unless the prosecution drops the charges, which they likely won’t do if you don’t have a lawyer with a history of success fighting for you.

Will the Arrest Remain on My Record Even If the Charges Are Dropped?

Yes. You will still have an arrest record if the criminal charges are dropped. However, an arrest record for sexual assault is much better than a conviction and the penalties that come with it. Plus, many dismissed cases can be expunged.

Penalties for Sexual Assault in Texas

The penalties for sexual assault depend on the circumstances of your case. You may face second- or first-degree felony charges. If you are convicted of second-degree felony sexual assault in Texas, you face:

• Up to two decades in prison
• A fine of up to $10,000
• Humiliation
• Loss of your job
• Loss of family and friends

You may also be forced to move as you’ll be on the sexual offender registry. You’ll lose your right to vote until your sentence is fully discharged, and federal law will bar you from having a firearm. Some lenders may also turn you down for a loan or mortgage. You might also lose custody if the court thinks you are unsafe around children.

First-degree felony sexual assault could put you in prison for the rest of your life.

Will I Spend Time Behind Bars for a Sexual Assault Charge?

Yes, it’s very likely that you will spend time in prison if you are convicted of sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault. Charges for sexual assault start at a second-degree felony and only increase from there.

If a second-degree felony sentence is prison, the minimum is two years. Probation or deferred adjudication is possible in some sexual assault cases, which is one more reason the details matter.

What Happens if My Sexual Assault Charges Are Not Dropped?

It’s not the end of the world if the prosecution refuses to drop your charges. Our Houston sexual assault lawyer will fight to keep these charges from affecting your life in any way we can. In addition to building a defense, we will:

• Remain calm and realistic. We know the penalties you’re facing, but we won’t let that ruffle us. We’ll protect you and your future.
• Determine where we might run into trouble. While we plan out your case, we’ll see where we might hit difficulties. We stay steps ahead so we can prepare tactics before we need them.
• Determine whether we may be able to get your charges reduced (e.g., aggravated sexual assault to sexual assault).
• Represent you during questioning or any other interactions with the police or prosecution. We’ll make sure no one takes advantage of you.
• Review any plea bargains. Plea bargains aren’t always in your best interest. We’ll make sure any deal on the table gives you the best shot at the best outcome.
• Prepare your case for trial. If we believe that fighting at trial is the best route for you and your future, we’ll prepare a strong case, using our years of experience to defend you against zealous prosecutors.
• Keep you updated throughout the process. You won’t remain in the dark when you work with us.

Jay is a native Houstonian and member of the:

• Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association
• Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
• Houston Bar Association
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

He takes protecting his friends and neighbors from a flawed criminal justice system very seriously.

He also has years of experience dealing with the same prosecutors and judges. He knows how they think, which allows him to stay a step ahead.

How Texas Law Defines Sexual Assault

Per Texas Penal Code 22.011, sexual assault occurs when someone “intentionally or knowingly” and without the other person’s consent:

• Penetrates or “causes the penetration of” the other person’s anus or sexual organ
• Penetrates the mouth of the other person with a sexual organ
• Causes the other person’s sexual organ to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person (the alleged assaulter or someone else)
• Does any of the above to a child (a person younger than 17), or causes a child’s anus or mouth to contact another person’s sexual organ, anus, or mouth. With a child, lack of consent isn’t an element, and it doesn’t matter whether the alleged assaulter knew the child’s age

How Texas Law Defines “Without Consent”

Per Texas law, an action is without consent if:

• The alleged assaulter used force, violence, or coercion
• The alleged assaulter threatened force or violence (and the alleged victim believed the assaulter had the ability to make good on those threats).
• The alleged assaulter threatened to use force or violence against another person.
• The alleged victim did not consent, and the alleged assaulter knew that the alleged victim was unconscious or otherwise incapable of consenting or resisting.
• The alleged assaulter knew that the alleged victim, as a result of “mental disease or defect,” was incapable of either understanding the situation or resisting the act.
• The alleged victim did not consent, and the alleged assaulter knew that the alleged victim did not know the act was occurring.
• The alleged assaulter knew the alleged victim was intoxicated or impaired by any substance to the point of being unable to consent.
• The alleged assaulter is a public servant who used their position to compel the alleged victim to submit or participate in the act.
• The alleged assaulter is a mental health provider or healthcare provider who exploited the alleged victim’s emotional dependency to submit or participate in the act.
• The alleged assaulter is a clergy member who used their position as a spiritual advisor to exploit the alleged victim into participating or submitting.
• The alleged assaulter is an employee of a facility at which the alleged victim is a resident (unless the alleged assaulter and alleged victim are married).
• The alleged assaulter is a healthcare provider who, during an assisted reproductive procedure, used genetic material (e.g., sperm) from an unapproved donor.
• The alleged assaulter is the alleged victim’s coach or tutor and used this relationship to coerce the alleged victim into submitting or participating.
• The alleged assaulter is the alleged victim’s caregiver who exploited the alleged victim’s dependency on them.

If our Houston sex crimes lawyer can establish that you had or reasonably believed you had consent from a willing adult, the prosecution likely won’t have a case.

Sexual Assault vs. Aggravated Sexual Assault

If you are charged with aggravated sexual assault, you face much more severe penalties than if you were charged with sexual assault.

Sexual assault becomes “aggravated” if there is an elevating factor. These aggravating factors may include:

• The use of a weapon in the assault
• Causing serious bodily injury, or threatening death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping
• The age of the alleged victim (if the alleged victim is under 14, you may be charged with aggravated sexual assault)
• If the alleged victim has a disability
• Drugging the alleged victim

An aggravated sexual assault lawyer in Houston can help you determine what penalties you’ll face.

Can I Get a Sexual Assault Conviction Expunged?

No, you can’t get a sexual assault conviction expunged. This is why it is so important to get Jay and the Blass Law team on your side. If you are convicted, the sexual assault conviction will remain on your record for everyone to see. This can make it difficult or impossible to be admitted to school or a specialized program, live where you want, or get the job you want.

We want to do everything we can to keep this situation off your record and protect your future.

What to Do If You Have Been Charged With Sexual Assault in Texas

If you are facing sexual assault allegations in Texas, the first thing you should do is remember that you have the right to remain silent. You also have a right to have a lawyer represent you. Don’t let the police trick you into thinking you shouldn’t get representation.

And you don’t want just any Houston sex crimes lawyer. You want Jay Blass on your side. Jay has successfully handled sexual assault cases since 2009, getting charges dropped or reduced or fighting for a not-guilty verdict in court.

We’re in the business of Keeping Innocent People Innocent.

What is an affidavit of non-prosecution, and does it work?

It is a sworn statement in which the complaining witness tells the prosecutor she does not want the case pursued. It is a request. It is not a dismissal, and the State is free to read it, file it, and go to trial anyway. Prosecutors in Harris County see these regularly and they do not treat them as the end of a case.

What an affidavit can do is change the picture. Paired with the rest of the file, it is one more reason for a prosecutor to look hard at whether the case can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It carries weight when it arrives through a lawyer, with the facts around it, rather than as a piece of paper somebody handed over at the courthouse.

Should I contact the person who accused me?

No. Not a call, not a text, not a message through a cousin or a friend. This is the single fastest way to turn a defensible case into an indefensible one.

Two things happen. First, contact almost always violates a bond condition or a protective order, which is a separate criminal charge on top of the one you already have. Second, if the State can characterize the contact as an effort to get the complainant to back off, that is tampering with a witness under Texas Penal Code § 36.05, and subsection (a)(5) reaches coercing a witness “to abstain from, discontinue, or delay the prosecution of another.”

Read § 36.05(d) before you decide the risk is worth it. Tampering is normally a third-degree felony, but when the proceeding is part of a criminal prosecution, it becomes the same category of offense as the most serious charge in that case. On a first-degree aggravated sexual assault case, a text message can become its own first-degree felony. Anything that needs to be communicated goes through your lawyer.

How long does the State have to file a sexual assault charge in Texas?

Ten years from the date of the offense for an adult complainant, under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.01(2)(E). That is the general rule, and the exceptions swallow a lot of it.

There is no limitation at all under Article 12.01(1) when the case involves a child complainant under Penal Code § 22.011(a)(2) or § 22.021(a)(1)(B), when biological evidence was collected and either has not been DNA tested or was tested and does not match anyone readily identified, or when there is probable cause to believe the same person committed a similar offense against five or more victims. An old allegation is not automatically a dead allegation, and the DNA exception is the one that surprises people years later.

How often do sexual assault charges actually get dropped?

Often enough that it is worth fighting, and not often enough to count on. Anyone quoting you a percentage is making it up, because the number depends entirely on what county you are in, what the evidence looks like, and whether the case ever gets past a grand jury.

What actually moves a case toward dismissal is unglamorous. A complainant’s account that changes between the outcry, the forensic interview and the offense report. A SANE exam that does not say what the offense report claims it says. Phone records and messages that contradict the timeline. A search or an interrogation that violated your rights. None of that surfaces on its own. Somebody has to go find it and put it in front of the prosecutor before the case gets indicted and everybody digs in.

We’ll Fight to Get Your Sexual Assault Charges Dropped Today

We know this is a scary experience, but you’re not handling this alone. Our founding attorney has spent his career defending Houstonians accused of crimes, sex crimes included.

We’ve been getting great results in difficult cases since 2009. We’re ready to help you fight for your future. Call us today for a confidential consultation and learn more about what we can do for you.

These cases move fast and quietly. A Harris County sex crime defense lawyer should be involved before you talk to anyone.