Defense Attorney Jeff Hampton Aggressively Fights for His Clients Facing Sex Crime Charges in Parker County
Being charged with a sex crime in Parker County can be a nerve-wracking experience. Not only are you facing a lengthy prison sentence, but you also face the specter of having to register as a sex offender. Even being charged with sex crimes can wreak havoc on a person’s life, despite being innocent until proven guilty. With your life, freedom, and reputation hanging in the balance, trusting your fate to an attorney who lacks the knowledge, experience, and history of successfully defending sex crimes in Parker County could ruin your life. Attorney Jeff Hampton has a history of vigorously and successfully defending sex crimes throughout Texas. You can rely on his knowledge, skill, and extensive experience to stand by you when no one else will.
Sexual Assault Crimes
The Texas Penal Code defines the acts which the Texas legislature considers sexual assaults. Sexual assault in Texas is rape, that is, penetration of a sex organ, mouth, or anus without consent. Sexual assault also includes touching without penetration. In Texas, the penalties for conduct vary depending on the age of the victim or the presence of any aggravating circumstances.
In the case of a victim aged 17 or older, the primary issue in a sexual assault case is one of consent. Contrary to what most people might surmise stranger rape, thankfully, is rare. On the other hand, so-called “date rape” is incredibly common. In “date rape” cases, there is usually no dispute that a sex act occurred. The focus of the case is whether the victim consented to the sexual activity.
The state possesses the burden to prove lack of consent in an “adult rape” criminal case. Some people may call this a “he said, she said” type of case, when the occurrence of a sex act is not contested, but consent is the only live issue. In that instance, any evidence the prosecution might find like DNA or sperm cells is merely window dressing. Many successful defenses turn on whether the victim in the case has a motive to lie and fabricate the allegations. There could be many reasons an alleged sexual assault victim might fabricate the charges. One such instance could be revenge. Another motive to lie is that the alleged victim is covering up his or her indiscretions by inventing allegations of sexual assault. The wise and seasoned sexual assault defense attorney will know how to handle these situations with tact.
Texas law delineates circumstances when the victim cannot consent. Situations in which a person cannot consent include:
- The use or threatened use of force,
- Drugging,
- An attack,
- A person acting using their position of authority such as police officer or physician, or
- The victim is mentally incapacitated in some fashion.
Child sexual assault cases present different challenges than adult rape cases. Children can lie about what happened to them. However, the successful defense typically must have the ability to point to a motive to fabricate. For example, a scorned spouse could plant the idea that the ex-spouse raped the child. The child could be a victim of another person and misidentify the perpetrator. The child could make up the story to get attention.
Potential Punishments for Sex Crimes in Parker County
The Texas Penal Code punishes sexual assaults as a second-degree felony. A person convicted of a second-degree felony faces between 2 and 20 years in prison. If the law prohibited the defendant and victim from marrying, then the conviction is a first-degree felony. A person convicted of the first-degree felony in Texas faces 5 to 99 years of incarceration.
Minimum-mandatory sentences come into play depending on the charge. Aggravated sexual assaults may be punished as a first-degree felony. Notwithstanding, a minimum-mandatory sentence of 25 years must be imposed if the jury convicted the defendant of a sexual assault of a child six years of age or younger or the child was 14 years old or younger, and the jury found the defendant used a weapon.
Sex Crime Defense Attorney Jeff Hampton is Only a Phone Call Away
If you face charges for a sexual assault or become aware that you or your loved one is the subject of an investigation into sexual wrongdoing, call Parker County sex crime defense attorney Jeff Hampton at 817-877-5201 immediately. Attorney Hampton will get to work on your case right away and exhaustively examine every angle of defense available so that you can avoid or minimize your exposure to incarceration registering as a sex offender in Texas for life. As a former state prosecutor, Attorney Hampton can predict where the case is going and find the weakness in the government’s case.
